The letter by Michael Bagraim MP, “Employment equity an iniquity” (November 13) refers.He writes that the “Human Rights Commission has found that equity policies are unconstitutional”.

The facts about this widely publicised stance expressed in the 2018 Equality Report of the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) have been vehemently challenged by the department of labour as having no substantive or legal basis. The department has sought audience from the SAHRC about recommendations outlined in this report.

In a meeting held on September 19 with senior officials of this institution, an acknowledgement was made by the SAHRC that the information outlined in the Equity Report had shortcomings in terms of substance and procedure.

However, the SAHRC indicated reluctance in withdrawing the sections that refer to the Employment Equity Act.  This reluctance to withdraw the sections of this report that refer to the  act has major constitutional and policy implementation implications for the transformation of the labour market. The department has not taken this lightly and has referred this report to a judicial review process.

The act has stood and passed the scrutiny of the Constitutional Court as evidenced in judgments such as Solidarity vs Department of Correctional Services [2016] SACC 18 and South African Police Service v Solidarity obo Barnard [2014] SACC 23.

It is false, malicious and without any substance to refer to any section of the  act or the whole act as unconstitutional.