Moving from the letter of the law to the spirit of the law: the challenges of realising the intent of employment equity and affirmative action

The letter of the law versus the spirit of the law is an idiomatic antithesis which suggests that in interpreting a law there are two choices. One can approach a law literally or one can instead focus on its intent. The relevance of this idiomatic opposition to the Employment Equity Act and its provision for affirmative action is interrogated through the presentation of two case studies demonstrating the obstacles to fully embracing equity and valuing the diversity of South African society.