Government Rejects Claims It Wants Employers To Use Apartheid-Era Laws For Race Classification

A New Employment Equity Storm Brews

Just weeks into the rollout of South Africa’s revised Employment Equity framework, a fresh controversy has erupted that cuts straight to the country’s most sensitive fault lines: race, history, and the workplace.

At the centre of the dispute is a claim by business lobby group Sakeliga that the Department of Employment and Labour is effectively pushing employers to fall back on apartheid-era laws to racially classify their staff. Government has flatly denied this, calling the allegation incorrect and misleading, but has stopped short of explaining why references to those very laws appeared in official correspondence.

The disagreement has sparked heated debate across business circles, legal forums, and social media, with many South Africans asking how race should be handled in a democracy still grappling with its past.

Why Race Classification Is Back In The Spotlight

The row unfolds against the backdrop of South Africa’s amended Employment Equity Act. Under the updated rules, designated employers, defined as businesses with 50 or more employees, must submit plans outlining how they intend to meet workforce representation targets over the next five years.

These targets are set across 18 economic sectors and are based on race, gender, and disability. The stated goal is to make workplaces better reflect the country’s demographics and to address entrenched inequalities that persist decades after apartheid.

But here is the core problem raised by Sakeliga: South African law does not clearly explain how employers are meant to classify workers by race in the first place.

Employees are not legally required to disclose their race or disability status. At the same time, employers face penalties if their Employment Equity reporting is inaccurate or if targets are not met.

The Apartheid Law At The Centre Of The Backlash

Sakeliga says it sought clarity from the department on how businesses should classify employees. In response, it claims the Department of Employment and Labour pointed to the Employment Equity Act, the Citizenship Act, and crucially, the Population Registration Act of 1950.

That final law carries enormous historical weight.

The Population Registration Act was one of apartheid’s most notorious pillars. It empowered the state to classify every person in South Africa by race using criteria that included physical appearance, language, social associations, and lifestyle. It also produced the infamous pencil test and entrenched racial segregation across every aspect of life.

The law was repealed in 1991 as South Africa moved toward democracy.

For Sakeliga, seeing it referenced again, even indirectly, rang alarm bells.

The organisation argues that the Employment Equity Act itself only refers broadly to “black people” as a collective category and does not provide mechanisms for determining race. The Citizenship Act, meanwhile, contains no racial classification provisions at all.

Government Pushes Back Hard

After being questioned about the letters, the Department of Employment and Labour did not dispute that the correspondence originated from within the department. However, it rejected the interpretation placed on it by Sakeliga.

The department insisted that the Population Registration Act has no legal standing and is not relied upon for any purpose. It emphasised that employers are required to comply only with the Employment Equity Act, its regulations, codes of good practice, and official reporting guidelines.

According to the department, the accepted approach remains employee self-identification, supported by internal workplace processes.

Officials also dismissed claims that employers are being exposed to legal or reputational risk, stressing that racial categorisation for transformation purposes has repeatedly been upheld by South Africa’s courts as constitutionally permissible.

What the department did not explain is why references to the repealed apartheid law appeared in the first place, leaving many observers unconvinced and calling for clearer guidance.

Business Anxiety And Legal Fallout

Beyond the politics, businesses are worried about the real-world consequences.

Penalties for non-compliance with Employment Equity requirements are severe. First-time offenders face fines of up to R1.5 million or 2 percent of turnover, escalating to R2.7 million or 10 percent of turnover for repeat violations.

Sakeliga argues that without clear legal definitions, employers are being set up to fail. Misstating an employee’s race or disability status could trigger heavy fines, while failing to meet targets may expose companies to further sanctions.

On social media, reactions have been sharply divided. Some users argue that racial data remains essential for measuring transformation. Others warn that forcing employers to navigate race classification without clear legal tools risks reviving old traumas in a new form.

Court Battles Loom

The dispute is far from over.

Sakeliga has launched legal challenges in both the Supreme Court of Appeal and the Constitutional Court, arguing that the Employment Equity targets amount to unlawful racial quotas that unfairly limit hiring and promotion, particularly for white males.

The Democratic Alliance has also signalled it is exploring legal options to challenge both the classification requirements and the targets themselves.

Government, for its part, maintains that the system is flexible, not quota-based, and aimed at long-term transformation rather than rigid enforcement.

As the legal process unfolds, employers remain stuck in the middle, trying to balance compliance, constitutional rights, and South Africa’s complex racial legacy.

For now, one thing is clear: in a country where history still shapes the present, even administrative letters can reopen wounds many thought were long closed.

{Source:Business Tech}

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