Empowerdex said yesterday that Dis-Chem Pharmacies was not paying lip service to the equity aspirations, but was doing its best to fix the demographics within its operations, with research showing there is only a 55% attainment of targets by South African companies.
This after a leaked letter on the weekend from the drug maker’s CEO Ivan Saltzman – outlining measures for the group to meet its employment equity targets – faced a public backlash.
“We are growing at a fast rate and a few appointments other than white don’t cut it. It’s the ratio between white and black that counts. So, when no suitable black candidate is found and a white is appointed, we need several blacks just to maintain the status quo, never mind moving forward,” Saltzman said in a letter to all senior management, dated September 19.
“A moratorium is placed on the appointment of white individuals. This includes external and internal appointments,” the letter said.
Dis-Chem later withdrew its memorandum prohibiting the appointment and promotion of whites.
The share price of JSE-listed Dis-Chem yesterday, which has faced a backlash since the leaked letter, saw the share tumble 2.6% to an intra-day low of R31.09, later recovering to close at R31.80.
JSE-listed companies can face up to 10% of the companies’ annual turnover by the the Department of Labour’s Inspection and Enforcement Services if they have been found to be non-compliant with the Employment Equity Act.
Empowerdex managing director Lerato Ratsoma said yesterday, “With BEE there is not much progress with attaining equity goals, a lot of companies are not doing well in employment equity targets. There is only a 55% attainment of targets, and there is a need for companies to focus hard on these targets, more companies should be doing what Dis-chem is doing.”
She said the aim of the targets was that employment reflect the demographics of the country but was currently skewed as about 80% of blacks were without jobs, while 87% of whites were in jobs.
According to the Commission of Employment Equity report of the country’s Nationally Economically Active male population comprised 43% African males; 5.0% coloured; 1.8% Indian; and 4.9% white.
Of the females, black females make up 79.4% of the working population; coloured females 9%; Indian females 2.7%; white females 8.8%.
According to Sanlam’s Gauge report based on the B-BBEE scores of 10 336 companies covering all sectors, only 55% show attainment at 55.9% of the set targets, on average, for all companies.
“As you can see, we are a long way from equity in those levels, which is what companies are grappling with. There is anecdotal evidence of companies opting to rather pay the fine than meet the targets, because they say they are too onerous. Retailers would not fare all that well on the scorecard,” Ramotsa said.
Trade union Solidarity yesterday said it welcomed Dis-Chem's retraction of an “offensive” memorandum prohibiting the appointment and promotion of whites.
This comes after Solidarity served a lawyer’s letter on Des-Chem earlier today. In it, Solidarity gave Dis-Chem until Friday to withdraw the moratorium placed on whites. If not withdrawn, Solidarity would continue with its legal action.
“We welcome the fact that the memorandum has been withdrawn, but it is a pity that such a memorandum existed at all. We will, however, make sure that it is not only the memorandum that will be withdrawn but also the policy. If Dis-Chem continues with the policy of placing a moratorium on the appointment of whites, we will continue to take legal action,” said Solidarity chief executive Dr Dirk Hermann.
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