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Employment Equity Reporting in South Africa

A practical guide for South African designated employers on the EEA2, EEA4, EEA12 and EEA13 under the Employment Equity Act, 1998 (as amended) and the Employment Equity Regulations, 2025.

1. What Employment Equity reporting is

Employment Equity reporting is the annual statutory process through which designated employers report on the composition of their workforce, on remuneration, and on progress in implementing their Employment Equity Plan. It is governed by the Employment Equity Act, 55 of 1998, as amended, and by the Employment Equity Regulations, 2025.

The relevant amendments to the Employment Equity Act commenced on 1 January 2025 under Proclamation 231 of 2024. The Employment Equity Regulations, 2025 became effective on publication on 15 April 2025. The determination of sectoral numerical targets also became effective on publication on 15 April 2025.

The annual reporting process comprises two distinct submissions:

  • the EEA2 Employment Equity report submitted to the Director-General under section 21 of the Act and Regulation 10 of the Regulations; and
  • the EEA4 income-differential statement submitted to the National Minimum Wage Commission under section 27 of the Act and Regulation 12 of the Regulations.

The EEA12 records the outcome of the section 19 analysis on the prescribed template under Regulation 8(3). The EEA13 contains the minimum elements of the section 20 Employment Equity Plan under Regulation 9(4). Neither the EEA12 nor the EEA13 is itself the annual EEA2 report submitted to the Director-General; both are prepared and retained by the employer and made available on request during inspection.

2. Who is a designated employer

Under section 1 of the Act, as amended, a "designated employer" is:

  • an employer employing 50 or more employees;
  • a municipality as referred to in Chapter 7 of the Constitution;
  • an organ of state as defined in section 239 of the Constitution, subject to the statutory exclusions; or
  • an employer designated as a designated employer under an applicable collective agreement in terms of section 23 or 31 of the Labour Relations Act.

The previous turnover-threshold route, under which employers with fewer than 50 employees but exceeding sector-specific annual turnover were also designated, was removed by the 2025 amendments. Designation is therefore no longer decided by turnover; smaller employers may still be designated as a municipality, an organ of state or through a designating collective agreement.

3. The EEA2 report

The EEA2 is the annual Employment Equity report referred to in section 21 of the Act and prescribed in Regulation 10. It records the workforce profile by occupational level, race, gender and foreign-national status, employees with disabilities, movement during the reporting period (recruitment, promotions and terminations), skills development, reasonable accommodation, disciplinary action and dispute resolution, the consultation process, and progress against the numerical goals in the employer's Employment Equity Plan.

4. The EEA4 income differential statement

The EEA4 is the prescribed statement of remuneration and benefits referred to in section 27 of the Act and prescribed in Regulation 12. Regulation 12 provides for its submission to the National Minimum Wage Commission as part of the annual reporting cycle. It records remuneration and benefits by occupational level, race and gender, together with an explanatory statement identifying disparities and the measures being taken to reduce them.

5. EEA12 and EEA13 distinguished from EEA2 and EEA4

The EEA12 and EEA13 are prescribed templates that support the preparation of the Employment Equity Plan. They are not themselves the annual reports:

  • Regulation 8(3) requires the outcome of the section 19 analysis to be reported on the EEA12 template.
  • Regulation 9(4) requires the Employment Equity Plan to contain, at a minimum, all the elements set out in the EEA13 template.

The EEA2 and EEA4 are the annual submissions to the Department of Employment and Labour and the National Minimum Wage Commission respectively. The EEA12 and EEA13 are not submitted annually; they are retained by the employer and made available on request during inspection.

6. Reporting windows

Regulation 10 prescribes two channels for annual submission:

  • hand-delivered EEA2 and EEA4 forms may be submitted from 1 September until the first working day of October; and
  • electronic submissions may be made from 1 September until 15 January of the following year.

7. Employers unable to report — EEA14 notification

A designated employer that is unable to report must notify the Director-General in writing by the last working day of August in the same year, provide reasons and supporting evidence, and use the EEA14 form (Regulation 10(11)).

8. Employers becoming designated after April

An employer that becomes a designated employer on or after the first working day of April in a reporting year submits its first report in the following reporting cycle. That employer is not assessed for compliance with its annual targets in its first report after becoming designated (Regulations 10(4) and 10(5)).

9. The 2025–2030 planning cycle and sectoral targets

The Employment Equity Plan cycle runs from 1 September 2025 to 31 August 2030. Every designated employer's Plan must be aligned to that cycle.

The sectoral numerical targets and the annual employer targets are distinct:

  • the five-year sectoral numerical targets apply to the four upper occupational levels (top management, senior management, professionally qualified and skilled technical) and to persons with disabilities;
  • the employer's annual targets progress incrementally towards those sectoral targets across the five-year cycle;
  • numerical goals and annual targets at the semi-skilled and unskilled levels are not set by the sectoral targets and must take the applicable economically active population (EAP) into account.

When setting annual targets, Regulation 9 permits the employer to take into account: its current workforce profile, the applicable sectoral targets, the applicable EAP (national or provincial), inherent requirements of the job, the pool of suitably qualified persons, relevant qualifications and experience, workforce turnover, attrition, and recruitment and promotion trends.

10. CEO or accounting-officer verification

The information contained in the report must be verified and authorised by the employer's Chief Executive Officer or, where the employer falls under the PFMA or MFMA, its accounting officer.

11. Consultation

The employer must consult with the relevant representative trade union and with employees or their nominated representatives, drawn from across the occupational levels and designated groups, in accordance with sections 16 and 17 of the Act. Employers commonly establish an Employment Equity consultative forum or committee to fulfil this consultative role. "EE Committee" is the name of the corresponding AutoEqui module and common workplace terminology; it is not a statutory requirement that the forum must carry that exact name.

12. Monitoring and employee information

  • The Employment Equity Plan must contain monitoring and evaluation procedures.
  • The employer's annual EEA2 records progress against the Plan.
  • Regulation 11 requires the EEA3 summary of the Act to be displayed at the workplace.
  • Section 25 of the Act sets out the employer's employee-information duties.

13. Retention

  • The Employment Equity Plan must be retained for five years after its expiry (Regulation 9(15)).
  • The EEA2 report must be retained for five years after submission (Regulation 10(14)).
  • The EEA4 statement must be retained for five years after submission (Regulation 12(3)).

14. After submission

Regulation 10(12) provides three outcomes after submission:

  • Rejection where the report does not comply with the Act and Regulations;
  • Notification of errors with a request to correct them within a specified period; or
  • Electronic acknowledgement that the report is complete and has been submitted into the Department's system.

Enforcement is separate. A written undertaking may be requested under section 36 of the Act and Regulation 13. A compliance order may be issued under section 37 of the Act and Regulation 14. An ordinary data-entry error does not automatically result in a compliance order.

15. Public and confidential documents

  • An EEA2 report submitted under section 21 is a public document and may be requested using the EEA11.
  • A public company that is a designated employer must publish an EEA10 summary in its annual financial report.
  • An EEA4 statement is not a public document.

16. Consolidated reporting by a holding company

A designated employer that is a holding company controlling more than one registered entity may choose to submit a consolidated report. It must have a consolidated Employment Equity Plan supported by individual Employment Equity Plans for every registered entity included in the report, and it must use a reporting method that remains consistent for the duration of the Plan (Regulations 10(7) and 10(8)).

17. Common practical reporting risks

The following are common practical reporting risks — not automatically statutory contraventions:

  • workforce headcount that does not reconcile to payroll;
  • occupational-level classification errors;
  • foreign-national data captured inconsistently;
  • disability declarations not obtained on a proper voluntary self-identification basis;
  • EEA2 workforce data misaligned with EEA4 remuneration data;
  • annual numerical targets that do not progress incrementally towards the applicable sectoral target; and
  • missing CEO or accounting-officer verification.

18. How AutoEqui assists

AutoEqui generates structured working exports based on the prescribed EEA forms. Final review, verification and submission remain the employer's responsibility.

  • EEA2 — assisted preparation tool with identified missing or partial sections.
  • EEA4 — assisted preparation tool with identified missing sections.
  • EEA12 (Word) — substantially complete working export with identified limitations.
  • EEA13 (Word and Excel) — substantially complete working exports with identified limitations.

Submission requires the employer to capture or submit the information through the Department of Employment and Labour's own reporting process. AutoEqui has no direct Department integration.

See our features overview for the workforce, planning, committee and evidence modules, and the step-by-step guide to creating an Employment Equity Plan for the underlying section 19 analysis and section 20 planning process. Subscription details are on the pricing page.

Important product information

AutoEqui outputs are working exports that assist the employer in preparing the substance of each EEA submission. The employer remains responsible for verifying every figure, for the consultation process, and for the CEO or accounting-officer's verification and authorisation of the final report.

AutoEqui is not affiliated with, approved by, accredited by or endorsed by the Department of Employment and Labour. The descriptions above are calibrated to a field-by-field verification of each AutoEqui export against the gazetted EEA forms.

19. Primary sources

Prepare your EEA reports with AutoEqui.

Workforce profile, section 19 analysis, section 20 Plan, sector targets, committee packs and structured working exports of the prescribed EEA forms — in one South African platform.

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