The DA will on Wednesday challenge the “ANC’s race quotas” outside the office of the minister of employment and labour in Pretoria.
In a statement on Tuesday, the opposition party said it plans to hand over a memorandum of demands to the minister, saying it is “deeply concerned about the ANC’s recent decision to resurrect racist zombie policies of the apartheid era and effectively ban the employment of coloured people in large parts of South Africa”.
It added that this is not only discriminatory but also threatens to exacerbate unemployment and poverty.
“The DA believes in a South Africa where opportunities are based on hard work, skill, and ingenuity,” it said.
“But the ANC is determined to recreate the worst employment rules of our country’s past by reintroducing pencil tests and the racial division that the ANC once opposed.”
The DA’s picket comes hot on the heels of a peaceful march on Monday by Westbury residents, who took to the streets to voice their anger at the newly signed Employment Equity Amendment Act.
Attended by more than 500 people, the marchers knocked on the doors of surrounding businesses while raising their begging bowls and armed with five memorandums that sought the authorities to address unemployment in coloured areas around Johannesburg.
Early in June, the DA approached the high court in Pretoria to declare various sections of the Employment Equity Amendment Act unconstitutional and invalid.
It is arguing that the party will not use “this draconian race-based legislation” to stand, saying it will lead to jobs bloodbath, among others.
The DA picket is expected to be attended by party leader in Gauteng Solly Msimanga who will be joined by Liam Jacobs and Patrick Atkinson.
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