BMF: Non-EE compliant companies must be charged criminally
Black Management Forum president Andile Nomlala said that the lack of transformation had direct implications on the stagnation of the economy, saying there was no justification for non-compliance.
JOHANNESBURG - The Black Management Forum has called on government to criminalise non-compliance with the Employment Equity Act and hold executives personally responsible for the lack of transformation in workplaces.
The organisation was reacting to the annual employment equity report, which showed that there was still unwillingness among employers in the private sector to employ and promote people in line with affirmative action policies.
Black Management Forum president Andile Nomlala said that the lack of transformation had direct implications on the stagnation of the economy, saying there was no justification for non-compliance.
He said that the boards and executives of non-compliant companies must be charged criminally.
"Once people know that it's going to be them personally, directors must be declared delinquent, CEOs' targets on KPIs must be put, including the transformation requirements, so that they don't earn exorbitant bonuses when they don't meet the targets."
He said that the enforcement of Section 53 of the Employment Equity Act, which outlined punitive measures for non-compliance, was not enough to get companies to obey the law.
"Even the sanctioning or punitive measures the department is scaring us about, which I think it's just a smokescreen, is that they are still saying that punitive measures of 2% to 10% of turnover, one, we know that companies budget for these things and two, companies have solid legal arsenals."
The BMF recently launched a litigation fund to push for the review of economic policies they deemed detrimental to transformation.
