OPINION | DA's resistance to redress of inequality subverts change

The DA's opposition to Section 15(a) of the Employment Equity Amendment Act is being presented as a principled stand for constitutionalism, non-racialism, and individual rights.

Yet beneath this carefully curated image lies a more troubling political agenda – the protection of an economic system still defined by apartheid-era privilege.

Behind its polished rhetoric lies a stubborn commitment to maintaining the privileges and protections afforded to a minority under a system built on exclusion. By resisting measures aimed at redressing structural inequality, the DA is not fighting for fairness, it is fighting to entrench the status quo.

The initial argument put forward by the party, that Section 15(a) of the amended act infringes on the rights of Coloured, Indian, and white people, is baseless, as the act does not exclude any racial group.

Instead, it promotes equitable representation based on each group's share of the economically active population, using targets to encourage fairness.

Helen Zille has criticised the act as a failed experiment, citing its 25-year history without substantial results and suggesting it should be scrapped. However, this reasoning is weak. The lack of meaningful outcomes is precisely why the amendment empowers the minister to set enforceable targets, to compel resistant employers, many of whom are white, to create opportunities for designated groups to advance in their careers.

The act “aims to achieve a diverse workforce broadly representative of the South African population.” The DA’s argument that is not against transformation is hollow; the EEC report shows that little transformation has taken place.

It is a constitutional and moral imperative to address the enduring effects of apartheid through targeted, race-conscious legislation. The entrenched disparities in income, employment, land ownership, and access to services cannot be reversed without acknowledging and correcting the racial injustices that caused them.

By opposing such corrective measures, the DA offers no credible alternative for achieving transformation. Instead, it advances arguments that seek to pit historically disadvantaged communities against one another. Its claims that demographic targets disadvantage Coloured and Indian South Africans – particularly in the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal– serve only to sow division and hinder collective progress.

This strategy echoes the colonial-era doctrine of “divide and rule,” repackaged under the guise of constitutionalism.

The DA’s persistent legal opposition to transformative legislation – be it the Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Bill, the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill, or land reform initiatives – betray a resistance to the democratic project of redress and equality and suggest a lingering attachment to the hierarchical social order of the past. Such a posture is not one of principled liberalism, but rather of preserving privilege under the pretext of legality.

In this defining moment of our democratic journey, SA must choose whether it will continue to confront the legacies of its past with courage and principle or allow those legacies to persist under the veil of legal technicalities and selective constitutionalism. Transformation is not optional – it is a constitutional obligation and a moral necessity. The deliberate misrepresentation of redress policies as “reverse discrimination” serves only to entrench existing inequalities and obstruct the path to a just and inclusive society.

South Africans deserve leaders who will champion unity through equity, not division through distortion. The time for rhetorical posturing has passed; what is needed now is decisive, principled action to fulfil the promise of our democracy for all.

SA stands at a crossroads. Either we take bold steps to create a truly inclusive economy, or we continue to manage inequality behind a veil of legal argument and political theatre. Section 15a) is not a silver bullet, but it is a necessary tool in the broader project of justice and redress.

• Motsamai is an education training and development practitioner