Employers have until Saturday, 15 January 2022, to submit their annual 2021 employment equity (EE) reports, as prescribed in accordance with the Employment Equity Act.
The reporting window opened on 1 September 2021 for both manual and online reporting. The manual reporting season closed on 1 October 2021.
The Department of Employment and Labour Director for EE, Ntsoaki Mamashela, advised employers to submit their reports on time and not wait until the last minute.
Mamashela warned that if the system is jammed with many people logging in at the same time, it runs the risk of crashing.
“The 2021 report submission was preceded by a national series of advocacy workshops. The EE workshops focused on presenting respective provincial EE status, updating on EE Amendments and EE Sector targets, how to access copies of the EEA2 Online by completing EEA11 form, including 2021 EE reporting, and EE inspections and enforcement in the labour market,” Mamashela said.
The aim of the Employment Equity Act, which came into being in 1998, is to promote equal opportunity and fair treatment in employment through the elimination of unfair discrimination, implementing affirmative action measures to redress the disadvantages in employment experienced by designated groups, and to ensure their equitable representation in all occupational levels in the workforce.
“Failure to abide with the provisions of the EE Act may result in imposition of fines,” Mamashela said.
She commended Employment and Labour Minister, Thulas Nxesi, for submitting South Africa’s ratification instruments to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) on Convention (C190) that deals with violence and harassment in the workplace.
“The signing would provide an ideal framework on the interpretation and implementation of the Employment Equity Act pertaining to violence and harassment, including gender-based violence in world of work,” she said.
Mamashela said in order to give more protection to workers, the National Economic Development and Labour Council is on course to finalise a code of conduct and guidelines on enforcement of mechanisms to deal with violence and harassment in the workplace by March 2022.
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