Shameen Thakur-Rajbansi, leader of the Minority Front (MF), said the political party supported McKenzie.

“He is doing his job in keeping with the Department of Public Service and Administration's (DPSA) transformation in the workplace goals. From the figures he has given, it is clear that, for example, 18 Indians should be in the department’s employ as per the national Indian population quota of 3%. Therefore, the department's vacancies should be filled by an additional 14 Indians.

“For this reason, the advert for preferred race is defendable, similarly for coloured and white representation, which is lacking. Currently, the department has 91% black African employees,” she said.

Thakur-Rajbansi said the MF’s last party debate in the KZN Legislature in July 2023 called for transparency in the employment equity and affirmative action policy in all departments - nationally and provincially.

“Thirty years into democracy, the DPSA’s 2023-2024 Annual Performance Plan had missed almost all targets in terms of reporting actual race representation transformation in all departments. The DPSA had not given departments a transformation handbook, occupational directory or the assessment tools for efficiency in the workplace.

“In the view of the MF, if the above are done then the government can ensure employment equity within various structures, boards, state-owned enterprises and departments as well as organisations funded by government departments.

“The recommendation of the MF was for the use of Diversity, Inclusion and Equity (DEI) Framework, which will be based on implementing holistic race and ethnic based targets which caters for all genders, economically disadvantaged individuals, disability, work permit foreigners, amongst other factors,” she said.

Thakur-Rajbansi added that it was important for South Africa to "scrap" the affirmative action and the employment equity policy, and instead adopt the DEI framework.

“This should be done due to the porous nature of our borders, our deteriorating economy and the need to reduce the bloated compensation for employees’ budgets as a result of incorrect implementation of the current policies. The DEI framework will correct the skewed HR organograms and make for more efficient running of the government,” she said.