Inspectors enforce labour law with vim

Source: iol.com, 04/05/2017

Cape Town - A crackdown on companies employing more than 40% foreign
labour is being vigorously pursued by the new minister of Home
Affairs.


Home Affairs inspectors have begun a “mass inspection” of businesses
countrywide.


Minister Hlengiwe Mkhize said on Wednesday her department’s
inspectorate unit was continuing with inspections “at various places
of employment to ensure compliance to this requirement, in terms of
the Immigration Act”.


The legislation has been tightened to address high unemployment rates
in South Africa.


Homes Affairs had partnered with the SA Police Service as well as the
Labour Department, she said.


“This is not a one off, but an ongoing activity which is achieved
through inspections to ensure companies comply,” Mkhize said. “The
role of the department is to continuously enforce compliance and
there’s no limit on the number of times a place of employment can be
inspected.”


The minister said in the past two months, “a total of 85 places of
employment were visited”. These, she said, included chain stores,
farms, hotels and other businesses.


The former Home Affairs Minster Malusi Gigaba had previously said the
inspections were being carried out to prioritise the employment of
South Africans and had “nothing to do with xenophobia”.


“In fact, xenophobic violence is what we want to prevent,” Gigaba
said. “The risk of not employing South Africans is that it endangers
the lives of foreigners and the property of companies. If you look at
the (xenophobic) violence that erupted in 2015, it started precisely
because of a company at Isiphingo in Durban that employed non-South
Africans, and South Africans attacked the company.”


Home Affairs said the regulation - which had the support of trade
union federation Cosatu - was not new, but had been tightened to flush
out companies flouting the law.


Non-compliant companies will be fined heavily and have their licences
reviewed, while managers and owners could be jailed for up to two
years if the department decided to take legal action.


Cosatu spokesperson Sizwe Pamla said: “When you consider we have over
nine million unemployed people, the 60% requirement is inadequate.


The figure needs to be revised to 75%.”


National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) spokesperson Livhuwane Malivhoho
said: “We have not yet taken a position on whether to support the
legislation because we have a lot of members from our neighbouring
countries who belong to our union, even our deputy president is from
Botswana.”


Spokesperson for the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa)
Phakamile Hlubi said the union could not comment at this stage.