Equity body in violation of own rules
The Employment Equity Commission (EEC) has failed to publish its annual reports for over five years. The commission is required by law to publish these reports every year. The last report was published in 2019 Labout experts say the commission (EEC) is violating its own regulations. The Employment Equity Act requires businesses with 10 or […] The post Equity body in violation of own rules appeared first on The Namibian.
Black News 
The Employment Equity Commission (EEC) has failed to publish its annual reports for over five years.
The commission is required by law to publish these reports every year.
The last report was published in 2019
Labout experts say the commission (EEC) is violating its own regulations.
The Employment Equity Act requires businesses with 10 or more employees to register with and submit detailed annual affirmative action reports to the EEC.
Employers must prepare and submit affirmative action plans to the commission to eliminate employment barriers against persons in designated groups namely black Namibians, people with disabilities and women, make available positions of employment to these identified groups, provided that it is reasonably possible, and ensure that such persons are equitably represented in the various positions at work.
Despite having published a report in 2019, the commission hauled 15 employers to appear before an EEC review panel in January this year, for alleged non-compliance with the Act.
Approached for comment the custodian of EEC, the Ministry of Justice and Labour Relations says the commission failed to publish its annual reports due to budget constraints, staffing shortages and the collapse of its case management software system.
However, unions are not buying the explanation, labelling the failure as incompetence leading to a lack of monitoring employment equity and discrimination in the Namibian labour market.
National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW) secretary general Job Muniaro says the commission must procure better technology to ensure there are backups when systems crash.
He believes employers’ organisations have benefited from the absence of these reports as their actions could not be monitored and them held answerable for failure to meet affirmative action targets.
Trade Union Congress of Namibia secretary general Mahongora Kavihuha says those responsible for publishing the report should be punished, and held accountable for the delay.
“Any law should have provisions to hold those responsible accountable.
It is important that the relevant institutions take corrective action to ensure this does not happen again, because services that need to be rendered to the public should not be disrupted at all,” he says.
To prevent similar delays in future, Kavihuha calls for the implementation of reliable systems rather than depending on platforms that are prone to failure and could place critical information at risk.
He adds that the disruption in the publication of the reports have hampered the implementation of policies informed by the findings, noting that any interruption in the flow of information affects those who rely on it, especially workers.
Kavihuha urged government to improve funding for key institutions such as EEC to ensure they can effectively carry out their mandate.
Mineworkers Union of Namibia (MUN) secretary general George Ampweya emphasises that the absence of affirmative action reports are to the disadvantage of the workers.
Labour expert Herbert Jauch says ‘’if you have a backlog of six years, nobody knows how employment equity is advancing, what the challenges are, what needs to change, and where the focus should be.
It is quite an impossible situation to not have reports for so many years”.
He says the lack of regular reporting may have allowed some employers to neglect their employment equity obligations without scrutiny.
Jauch, however, welcomed the labour ministry’s plans to publish the outstanding reports for the 2025/26 period, saying it indicates that authorities are beginning to prioritise the issue.
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