Affirmative action here to stay - Manuel

By Tarryn Le Chat
02 March 2007

Finance Minister Trevor Manuel has announced that affirmative action is here to stay. Recently MEC for Transport in the Western Cape, Marius Fransman, proposed that affirmative action be changed in the country’s employment equity law.

ANC MP Monontsi Mzondeki agrees with Fransman, reportedly saying a moratorium on employment equity to attract scarce skills must be considered by all opposition parties in parliament.

The United Party of South Africa has called for a complete redesign of affirmative action as it is currently worsening the problem of capacity.

A new affirmative action policy should broaden the definition of designated group to include the youth and show that no-one person is more disadvantaged than another.

In a debate, a daily newspaper reported on job creation and globalisation the Democratic Alliance MP Mark Lowe called for the scrapping of affirmative action.

According to Lowe, since the democratic rule began in 1994, the average number of qualified artisans in South Africa has steadily risen.

Lowe says that there is a shortage of engineers ad skilled artisans due to lack of training and learnership programmes.