Johannesburg: South Africa’s second largest political party on Tuesday gave a legal challenge against a new labor law with the objective of hiring black people and other groups in some industries, arguing that it is unconstitutional, discriminatory and moist to foreign investment.A challenge by Thedeemocratic Alliance, or DA, amends the amendment of the Employment Equity Amendment Act applicable in January. To force companies to diversify their employees, new laws have divided the country’s unity government, including DA. Measures have set fire to the US government under President Donald Trump, who have cited “racist law” as part of their causes to cut financial aid to the country and support the transfer of their minority African community in the US. In recent amendments, the Labor Minister has the power to set numerical goals to hire disabilities in areas identified by the government, which are in the areas identified by the government as not reaching some goals. Companies face penalty for not reaching goals. The Federal Chairman of the Democratic Alliance Helen Zil described the new law as a “totalitarian” and says it discriminates against other groups of South African people, while potentially discourages foreign direct investment. “Jobs are made by companies that invest in South Africa. The Drawcian labor governance created by the Employment Equity Amendment Act will continue to remove investment and increase unemployment,” the Zil said. He said that the aim of the new law is to use racial quota to address the injustice of the past, and it will contribute to the country’s unemployment rate, which is now more than 32 percent. He said that such discrimination in the past has failed to raise groups of margins. “It is completely insensitive to intensifying a discriminatory governance that has already failed so brilliantly to empower the financially marginalized people,” the Zil said. Although the Constitution of South Africa allows some discrimination to amend for previous injustice, it should meet a fairness threshold that the DA’s argument is not found under new measures, which it described as “Dracian”. Official government figures show that racial and gender inequalities in the country’s economy are widespread after more than 30 years of the end of the country’s white minority rule when black people suffered racial discrimination. The African National Congress Party, which is the largest party of the government after losing the parliamentary majority in the 2024 national elections, criticized the Democratic alliance for the challenge of its court. “The Employment Equity Act is not about the quota. It’s about justice,” said ANC spokesman Mailengi Bhengu-Machmiri. “This is about fixing structural imbalance in the economy and ensuring that all South Africans have a fair shot on the occasion.” This unity is the latest public spat between the two largest parties in the government that oppose many issues ideologically. Parties are also divided on education and land improvement policies, which address the inequalities created under apartheid, which is a system of separation under the white minority rules ending in 1994. Two weeks ago, the government withdrew plans to increase the price -added tax paid on consumer goods after DA and most of the opposition parties opposed it and refused to vote for the budget that had tax increase.
