SA`s Department of Labour will pursue fraud charges against companies listed in its "name and shame" list.
These companies, among them firms such as Vodacom, Cell C, MTN and Faritec, failed to submit their 2005 employment equity reports on time, according to the department.
However, Vodacom, MTN and Faritec say that - as far as they were aware - their reports had been submitted on time. None of these companies were aware they were on the list.
Despite this, spokesman for the department Mokgadi Pela says it will pursue fraud charges against companies on its list of over 1 000 firms. "There will be no apology forthcoming; we have done our homework and they will meet us in court."
He says companies on the list have either changed names and reported under a different name to that which the department has on record, or have created subsidiaries to avoid reporting at all.
Pela explains that companies with at least 150 employees have to report. He says companies seek to evade reporting by creating subsidiaries with less than 150 staff.
Minister of labour Membathisi Mdladlana, speaking at the launch of the sixth Commission for Employment Equity Annual Report on Monday, said he was disturbed by a declining trend in reporting by employers.
"May I remind designated employers that when they refrain from submitting their employment equity reports, they are in breach of the law."
A mistake?
But several ICT companies on the list are adamant they reported on time. Faritec CEO Simon Tomlinson says the report is "definitely something we make sure goes in on time". He adds the department must have made a "mistake", as he is "100% sure we have submitted".
Cell C says its 2006 deadline for submission has not yet passed, but its 2005 report had been submitted. "At Cell C, we have always submitted our reports on time in the past, and even this year we still have until the end of the month to submit. We will be submitting our report electronically, the same as last year, probably towards the last week of September," says executive head of corporate communications Vanashree Pillay.
Vodacom chief communications officer Dot Field says the company submitted on time, as it always does and has receipts to show for it. She, too, is surprised to be on the list.
MTN media relations manager Ravin Maharaj says: "According to the MTN sustainability report, MTN SA submitted its employment equity plan in 2005 and is fully compliant with the Employment Equity Act of 1998."
"We`ve heard this story before," says Pela. "We are not going to be fooled by the shenanigans of these companies." He reiterates the department`s claims that these companies are committing fraud. "We are sticking to our guns."
Other companies on the department`s list include Bytes Technology Group, Compact Disk Technologies, Dimension Data`s Management Services, HP SA, Nashua Mobile, Sony and the State IT Agency.
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