During the latest council meeting of the Emfuleni Local Municipality (Evaton, Sebokeng, Vaal Oewer, Vanderbijlpark, Vereeniging), the Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) strongly objected to the blatant inequality in the Municipality’s employment and promotion practices.
According to the official employment report, the Municipality employs a total of 1 782 people, of whom only 71 are white, 24 coloured and 5 Indian.
The report also confirms that no new appointments from these groups were made in the 2024/25 financial year.
Not one of these employees was promoted and only one white woman received training. By contrast, 200 new black appointments were approved, 12 black employees were promoted and 117 selected for training.
The Freedom Front Plus expressed its dissatisfaction with this trend, and emphasised that the current focus on quotas and rigid employment-equity measures is not in the best interests of the Municipality or its residents.
The party’s policy is that appointments and promotions should be based solely on merit, regardless of skin colour. The single-minded pursuit of quota targets undermines the Municipality’s ability to build a competent and effective workforce while harming service delivery and economic growth.
Fair labour practices must be upheld, but never at the expense of expertise, merit and the reasonable advancement of all communities.
The Freedom Front Plus will keep pressuring the Municipality to ensure that minorities are also promoted and trained, and that merit and competence are the sole criteria for appointments and promotions.
