SA firm vanishes with Namibian jobs data
EEC left licking wounds
For three years running, there has been no reporting on whether there's any equitable workplace transformation required by law.
The Employment Equity Commission (EEC) has blamed its failure to release any equity reports since 2020 on Covid-19 and a South Africa company that allegedly ‘ran away’ with collected data because of a dispute.
The service provider - assigned to gather, sort and release the data in a readable form - allegedly disappeared into thin air.
The Affirmative Action (Employment) Act requires the ECC to submit an annual report to the minister of labour by 31 March each year. The minister should table the report in parliament within 14 days.
Failure to comply with the law is being laid at the feet of Otniel Podewitz, who has been at the helm of the EEC since 2019.
Reacting to the claim, he said there had been issues with the system capturing the data.
“We have issues with our system. We are re-entering the data,” he said.
Left town
According to the commissioner, the data could not be released because the contracted South African partner did not want to hand over the information to the EEC.
“The system was built by a South African company. There was a dispute and they since left town. The backed-up data was with the South African company. We have engaged with the Namibian partner who will try and complete the system. All in all, it is an alternative system, but we are hoping for July,” he said.
Podewitz said releasing the data would also give rise to credibility issues, which are now being addressed as the EEC is re-entering the data.
“Some companies were listed under the wrong sectors and we need to fix that. To give you a practical example, we had a ministry listed as a wholesale company and that is a credibility issue,” he said.
A report was due for release this year, he added.
“We don’t want to release the data because it is not in the right format. We are hoping to release the 2022-2023 equity report towards September. We are entering the data manually.”
Major concern
Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) director Graham Hopwood said it was a major concern that the EEC was not releasing equity reports on a timely basis to show trends in equity employment.
“It's a major concern. This legislation was introduced to ensure the transformation of the workplace, particularly at upper management level, from the situation pre-1990 when the economy was structured along apartheid lines.
“Yet we have had no data for several years through which we can assess if progress has been made,” he said.
“The legislation really serves no purpose if the EEC does not produce regular public reports. Some people think that the affirmative action law has had its day and should be phased out, while others are saying we still have a long way to go and need to increase efforts to achieve equity - particularly in executive positions. It's impossible to judge the situation without up to date reports containing the latest statistics,” he said.
The service provider - assigned to gather, sort and release the data in a readable form - allegedly disappeared into thin air.
The Affirmative Action (Employment) Act requires the ECC to submit an annual report to the minister of labour by 31 March each year. The minister should table the report in parliament within 14 days.
Failure to comply with the law is being laid at the feet of Otniel Podewitz, who has been at the helm of the EEC since 2019.
Reacting to the claim, he said there had been issues with the system capturing the data.
“We have issues with our system. We are re-entering the data,” he said.
Left town
According to the commissioner, the data could not be released because the contracted South African partner did not want to hand over the information to the EEC.
“The system was built by a South African company. There was a dispute and they since left town. The backed-up data was with the South African company. We have engaged with the Namibian partner who will try and complete the system. All in all, it is an alternative system, but we are hoping for July,” he said.
Podewitz said releasing the data would also give rise to credibility issues, which are now being addressed as the EEC is re-entering the data.
“Some companies were listed under the wrong sectors and we need to fix that. To give you a practical example, we had a ministry listed as a wholesale company and that is a credibility issue,” he said.
A report was due for release this year, he added.
“We don’t want to release the data because it is not in the right format. We are hoping to release the 2022-2023 equity report towards September. We are entering the data manually.”
Major concern
Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) director Graham Hopwood said it was a major concern that the EEC was not releasing equity reports on a timely basis to show trends in equity employment.
“It's a major concern. This legislation was introduced to ensure the transformation of the workplace, particularly at upper management level, from the situation pre-1990 when the economy was structured along apartheid lines.
“Yet we have had no data for several years through which we can assess if progress has been made,” he said.
“The legislation really serves no purpose if the EEC does not produce regular public reports. Some people think that the affirmative action law has had its day and should be phased out, while others are saying we still have a long way to go and need to increase efforts to achieve equity - particularly in executive positions. It's impossible to judge the situation without up to date reports containing the latest statistics,” he said.
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