8.7 Affirmative Action The impact of affirmative action, specifically with regard to employment levels, over the years has tended to depend on the extent to which it is applied. Disparities exist between the public and private sectors. In the public sector, concerted efforts to ensuring compliance with employment equity targets have generally resulted in an improvement across all levels over the years. For example, the public service has witnessed a steady increase of women in senior management positions (levels 13- 16) over time:; 34.8% in March 2009 and 36.0% in March 2010 this was an improvement from the period 2005-2009 which averaged 30%. The number of people with disabilities in the public sector has not grown:, remaining at 0.20% for March 2009 and March 2010. The economically active figures for Africans in March 2010 are 74%, 10.3% for Coloured people, and 2.8% for Asians while 12.1% represents White people. A critical institution charged with the monitoring of the employment equity Act is the Commission for Employment Equity (CEE). The CEE is mandated by government and prepares an Annual Report, to reflect on the progress made and to evaluate the effectiveness of the Employment Equity Act (EE Act). The 10th CEE Annual Report 2009-2010 highlights the following: · Slow progress on transformation and potential to erode significant achievements made to date. · The disproportionate representation of the various groups in different occupational levels has impacted negatively on training. · The 2% target of employment of people with disabilities has not been met. · Remuneration disparity on the basis of race and gender continues. · The EE pillar of B-BBEE is not performing optimally and requires reconsideration · There is a newly formed President’s BEE Council. · Re-definition of the name and shame and praise process which is expected to come into effect in 2011 to drive transformation. 58