An amendment to the Employment Equality Act to penalise companies not abiding by racial diversification in the workplace was recommended to the labour department on Monday.

Commission for Employment Equality chair Jimmy Manyi said government's approach of persuasion was not having the desired effect and black and coloured people were bearing the brunt of it.

Releasing the CEE 2008/09 report in Pretoria, Manyi said it would be recommended that laws governing the Employment Equity Act be revised as they did not deal harshly enough with offenders.

"This law (as it is currently) is very forgiving... the department and the commission are going to take a much lesser conciliatory view," he said.

Currently companies were given timeframes to comply if they had been found lacking, however an immediate response such as prosecution had become necessary, he said.

Fines for non-compliance companies

"There are going to be a lot more prosecutions now going on. Those who are not playing ball we will name and shame."

Fines for non-compliance also needed to be reconsidered as they currently amounted to "petty cash". Manyi said the amounts needed to be escalated to 10 percent of a company's turnover, which was similar to penalties handed down by the Competition Commission.

Manyi said while progress was taking place, it was at a slow pace. Out of the over 100 JSE listed companies randomly selected for evaluation, there were "no shining examples".

There was a "shortage of recognition of black people as competent". This was also the case for people with disabilities.

Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana said the figures showed a "disturbing trend" and agreed that prosecution in the Labour Court should be enforced immediately.

Heading for danger

"Unfortunately there are people you have to drag to heaven because they are heading for danger."

Mdladlana said the longer it took to implement employment equity in the workplace, the more negative the impact on growth and stability of democracy.

Calls to remove legislation dealing with the lack of racial diversity — a legacy of apartheid — was tantamount to "throwing away the Constitution".

He said previously disadvantaged people would soon get frustrated with extending an olive branch to people who had formerly oppressed them during the violent apartheid era.

"Comply with the law instead of manufacturing a revolution that is not going to take us anywhere... You better touch our hand whilst we are still giving it," he said.

"I want to warn them that the revolution will be a revolution of all black people.

"I am as angry as I was. I have not calmed down a bit. If we want to unite the people of this country this is the route to go," he said.

Black, coloured people being "window dressed"

Manyi said observations had also shown "with a lot of anxiety" that black and coloured people were being given senior titles but were in fact "window dressing".

The report showed that white men represented 61 percent of top management, enjoyed 48 percent of all recruitment and made up 45 percent of all employees promoted to this level.

At the top management level black men represented 10 percent, enjoyed 13 percent of all recruitment and made up 13 percent of all employees promoted to this level.

In this category, Indian men represented five percent and coloured men four percent while white women represented 12 percent, black women just under four percent, and Indian and coloured women each just over one percent.

For the first time the study also looked at how top management in the government sector compared to the private sector.

In government 61 percent were black, 12 percent coloured, five percent Indian, 21 percent white and under one percent foreigners.

White people had the highest representation

In the private sector white people had the highest representation with 74 percent followed by black people with 13 percent, Indians with just under six percent, coloureds with five percent and foreigners accounting for three percent.

Manyi said generally speaking government was closer to achieving the proportional economical active race representation targets.

"Government is trampling the private sector at every turn," he said, adding however that much still needed to be done.

Representation of people with disabilities at all levels and in both private and public sectors dropped from one percent over the previous years to 0.7 percent.

Manyi said in recruitment and promotions the trend showed that white people were generally favoured.

"The job market is pro-white people... we don't have the facts to back up the story that employment equity is anti-white."

He said companies would no longer be able to get away with filing reports that employees were being sent on workshop training.

"We want training that is purposeful... the only training that we are going to accept from now on is training that is aimed at closing the skills gap," Manyi said.

Sapa

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