Employment Equity Alert: New Plans and Sector Targets Now in Effect
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If you’re a designated employer in South Africa, there’s a major change you need to know about: from 1 September 2025, you are legally required to implement a new 5-year Employment Equity (EE) Plan, and it must align with recently published sector-specific numerical targets. This update comes as part of the amended Employment Equity Act, which aims to accelerate workplace transformation and ensure fair representation across all industries.
What’s New?
The Department of Employment and Labour has introduced sectoral targets for designated employers, meaning employers now need to match the transformation benchmarks specific to their sector and occupational levels. These targets are based on race, gender, and disability. For example, targets are now in place for each industry (like finance, construction, mining, education, healthcare, etc.) across various job levels: top and senior management, professionals, skilled workers, and people with disabilities.
The law excludes foreign nationals and white males without disabilities from the target percentages, which means these groups are not counted toward meeting your transformation benchmarks.
Who Does This Affect?
All designated employers (typically those with more than 50 employees or meeting turnover thresholds based on industry) must implement an EE Plan aligned with these targets.
Smaller employers (with 1–49 employees) are exempt from the numerical targets, but still need to comply with other EE provisions.
What Do Employers Need to Do?
Use the 5-year sectoral targets provided by the Department of Employment and Labour as a benchmark when setting up or updating EE Plans.
Consider your workforce profile and match it to the economic sector you operate in.
Don’t assume compliance is automatic, having a plan isn’t enough. You must demonstrate real transformation efforts.
What if You Don’t Meet the Targets?
Employers who can prove valid reasons for not meeting a target (e.g., skills shortages, operational constraints) won’t be penalised, as long as these reasons are documented and reasonable. However, failure to implement any plan or ignoring the targets could result in fines and complications with contracts, especially for those doing business with government.
Why It Matters
EE compliance is no longer just a box-ticking exercise. It’s now directly tied to procurement opportunities, reputation, and legal compliance. With government contracts increasingly requiring EE Certificates of Compliance, falling behind could mean losing out on major tenders.
Read more in the Media Statement by the Minister of Employment and Labour.
You can view the full sector targets in the Government Gazette No. 52514.
Template for the Employment Equity Plan - EEA13 Form.
