Archive photo of the Constitutional Court. (Photo: X)
Sakeliga and the employers’ organization Neasa have submitted a final application to the Constitutional Court for leave to appeal against a previous court decision which refused to urgently intervene against South Africa’s new employment quotas.
The application, submitted on April 1, may be the last opportunity for urgent interim relief, according to Sakeliga. “The application is important because our available remedies for urgent interim relief in South African courts are running out,” says Sakeliga.
According to Sakeliga, the quotas place strict restrictions on employment based on race and gender at organizations with 50 or more employees. According to them, this includes “white men being limited to only 4% in many cases” and leads to “absurd and unrealistic gender assignment directives”.
If leave to appeal is granted and successful, it can provide businesses with temporary protection. According to the organization, this will “provide local and international businesses… with much-needed interim protection against these disruptive, expensive and job-destroying quotas”.
However, should the Constitutional Court refuse to grant leave, or if the appeal fails, Sakeliga warns that companies will be exposed to enforcement actions.
The Constitutional Court. (Photo: X)
This includes action by the Department of Labor and the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (ITAC), which already requires certificates of compliance.
In this case, companies will have to “take additional precautions to manage the legal, ethical and commercial risks…”.
Sakeliga points out that other legal remedies are still available, including a comprehensive review application which has been ongoing since July 2025 but is likely to take years to complete. They believe delays by the Department of Labor seem “deliberate, or at least the result of incompetence”.
In the meantime, Sakeliga recommends that businesses take a cautious approach. This includes, among other things, “maximum appropriate non-cooperation”, with the aim of avoiding government objectives whenever possible, while maintaining value-based hiring practices.