On 24 July 2026, the Minister of Employment and Labour published the Draft Reviewed Code of Good Practice on the Preparation and Implementation of the Employment Equity Plan (Revised Code) for public comment. The Revised Code has been published under the Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998 (EEA), on the advice of the Commission for Employment Equity.

The public has until 22 September 2026 to submit written comments.

The Revised Code is intended to replace the existing Code of Good Practice on the Preparation, Implementation and Monitoring of Employment Equity Plans, published in 2017 (2017 Code). Its publication reflects the need to align the 2017 Code with the current statutory and regulatory framework, in particular following the enactment of the Employment Equity Amendment Act, 2022 (which introduced, among other things, section 15A providing for sector-specific numerical employment equity targets) and the publication of the Employment Equity Regulations, 2025 (2025 Regulations).

The Revised Code is substantively similar to the 2017 Code. However, several significant changes have been proposed, summarised below.

The purpose of the Code

As with the 2017 Code, the Revised Code provides guidelines to designated employers (those who employ 50 or more employees) and their employees on good practice for the preparation, implementation and monitoring of an employment equity plan (EE Plan) as required by the EEA, as amended and the 2025 Regulations.

Preparation phase

The Revised Code now makes clear that the obligation to initiate and facilitate the preparation of the EE Plan arises as soon as an employer becomes a designated employer. The 2017 Code did not specify this trigger point.

Consultation and the EE Committee

In accordance with sections 16 and 17 of the EEA, a designated employer must consult with representatives of its workforce on the conduct of the workforce analysis, the preparation and implementation of the EE Plan, and on the annual EE report that is submitted to the Department of Employment and Labour.

These representatives must represent the interests of employees from across all occupational levels of the employer’s workforce and the interests of people from designated and non-designated groups. Where there is a representative trade union representing members at the workplace, the trade union must also be consulted.

In line with the 2017 Code, it has become commonplace for designated employers to establish an EE Committee as the consultative forum for purposes of compliance with sections 16 and 17 of the EEA. The Revised Code introduces two new requirements when it comes to consultation: first, that there must be ‘an agreement’ on the composition of the consultative forum and how it should be constituted and rules governing its work; and second, that members of the forum must be trained and capacitated on their roles and responsibilities.

While it is not clear whose ‘agreement’ is contemplated on the composition of the forum, the new requirements would, in our view, be met where a designated employer puts in place terms of reference (ToR) for the EE Committee. Separately, the designated employer must be sure to conduct training for members of the Committee, covering their duties and responsibilities and the provisions of the ToR insofar as these enable them to fulfil their consultation obligation.

The ToR would regulate the administrative aspects regarding the establishment and work of the Committee, such as details relating to how employee representatives are nominated and appointed, the duration for which they are required to serve on the Committee, how many representatives from each occupational level will sit on the Committee, the election of the chairperson, the requirement for the employer to ensure that the interests of people from designated and non-designated groups are represented on the Committee, the number and frequency of meetings (bearing in mind that the Code provides for at least quarterly meetings), and the functions of the Committee, which are to consult with the employer on the barrier analysis, the EE Plan and the annual report. 

These proposed changes create an additional layer of procedural formality and, if the Revised Code is published in its final form, will require action from those designated employers who have historically operated informal or ad hoc employee consultative bodies. The absence of documented ToR for an EE Committee and proof of training could be raised as an issue of non-compliance by labour inspectors. Designated employers whose EE Committees do not yet have such ToR documents in place would be advised to develop them and to arrange for appropriate training for their EE Committees. 

Conducting the analysis

The Revised Code introduces several noteworthy changes to the workforce analysis requirements, including:

• The scope of the analysis is expanded to cover both under-representation and over-representation of people from designated groups at each occupational level. The 2017 Code referred only to under-representation.
• Critically, item 6.1.3.2 now requires under- and over-representation to be determined with reference to both the Economically Active Population (EAP) and the sectoral targets.
• A new provision allows employers to additionally consider: the inherent requirements of a job; the pool of suitably qualified persons; formal qualifications, prior learning, relevant experience or capacity to acquire the ability to do the job; turnover and natural attrition rates; and recruitment and promotional trends. While this provision appears under the workforce profile section, we note that the factors come from the 2025 Regulations and are factors that designated employers may consider (in addition to the workforce profile, EAP and applicable sectoral targets) when setting numerical targets and developing EE Plans. It accordingly appears that the provision would be better placed under the next heading, Developing the EE Plan.

The inclusion of over-representation together with under-representation when setting numerical targets aligns with the approach we have seen in practice by labour inspectors when considering the extent to which suitably qualified people from and among the different designated groups are equitably represented in that employer’s workforce in relation to the demographic profile of the national and/or regional EAP, the applicable sector target and workforce profile.

Accordingly, despite the globular figures set out in the sector targets, the proposed inclusion of over-representation in the Revised Code emphasises the importance of translating these figures into numerical targets for each designated group in the EE Plan, taking into account the applicable EAP, and workforce profile. That said, even if certain groups (designated and non-designated) are over-represented, nothing in the EEA requires a designated employer to take any decision concerning any employment policy or practice that would establish an absolute barrier to the prospective or continued employment or advancement of any non-designated (or designated) group. Over-representation could for example, be addressed over a period of time, through planned vacancies and natural attrition.

Further, whilst a designated employer can take race and gender into account when making appointment and promotion decisions, there may be circumstances where a designated employer could make a decision that would not have the effect of immediately addressing over-representation of certain groups. Such circumstances should align with the justifiable reasons for a failure to meet a numerical target as set out in Regulation 16(5) of the 2025 Regulations.

Developing the EE Plan

The most significant amendment in the Revised Code relates to the incorporation of sectoral numerical targets when developing the EE Plan. Item 7 of the Revised Code now incorporates references to these targets, with language drawn directly from Regulation 9 of the 2025 Regulations, including that:

• the five-year sectoral targets set under section 15A (2) of the EEA are key milestones towards equitable representation of people from designated groups within the four upper occupational levels, relative to the applicable EAP, and for persons with disabilities;
• designated employers must set numerical goals and annual EE targets at the semi-skilled and unskilled occupational levels under section 20(2) of the EEA, taking into account the applicable EAP;
• an employer that has already exceeded the five-year sector numerical EE targets should set annual EE targets towards achieving the EAP for any designated group;
• employers must avoid perpetuating over-representation of any group where representation exceeds the applicable EAP at a particular occupational level; and
• designated employers must comply with the numerical targets set under section 15A (3) for the economic sector in which they operate. EEA17 in the 2025 Regulations provides guidelines to determine the applicable sector. If the employer operates in more than one sector, it must apply the numerical targets for the sector in which the majority of the employees are engaged.
• Monitoring and accountability

In line with section 24 of the EEA, the Code requires a designated employer to assign one or more senior managers to take responsibility for implementing and monitoring the EE Plan, with steps to ensure they perform their functions adequately. In addition, a new provision requires all progress reports on monitoring of the EE Plan to be discussed in the employer’s consultative forum.

Reporting

The reporting provisions have been updated to align with Regulation 10 of the 2025 Regulations, including confirming that a certificate of compliance will only be issued once a compliant EE report for the preceding year has been submitted. A new provision also requires the responsible Minister of a designated employer that is an organ of state to table that employer’s EE report in Parliament using the EEA10 format prescribed in the 2025 Regulations.

Conclusion

While the Revised Code introduces a number of important refinements and needed alignment with the amended statutory provisions, for most employers, the practical impact of the Revised Code (once finalised) is likely to be limited, as most of the changes give effect to obligations that already apply to designated employers under the amended EEA, read with the 2025 Regulations.

That said, designated employers should take this opportunity to review their current employment equity compliance practices. In particular, they should ensure that their EE Committees have formal ToR in place, that committee members have received appropriate training on their roles and responsibilities and that their workforce analysis and numerical goals address both under-representation and over-representation of people from designated groups at each occupational level.

Written by Talita Laubscher and Melissa Cogger, Partners, and Chloë Loubser, Knowledge and Learning Lawyer, Bowmans