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The Department of Employment and Labor seeks to formalize a new employment policy that will restrict the number of foreigners working in specific sectors of the economy.
In a presentation to Parliament on Thursday (May 7), Director General of Employment and Labor Thobile Lamati said that this employment policy is currently being developed by the department’s employment services branch.
“If the minister is given the legal right to establish sectoral objectives, what would happen would be that, in areas where, for example, there was a preference for foreigners, such as the restaurant sector, the minister could determine a percentage of the foreigner. nationals allowed (to work) in the sector, “he said.
“This is not a new thing. It happens around the world and is part of employment policies in the labor market. We are not sure whether the target will increase or decrease, but we believe that employment policy will go a long way towards addressing the number of challenges we have in the job market. “
Later in the presentation, Labor Minister Thulas Nxesi also addressed the issue directly, noting that South African citizens had been disadvantaged by the current system.
He noted that this is a problem particularly in agriculture, the restaurant industry, hospitality and private security.
“For some reason, employers have preferred foreigners over South Africans. Some of the reasons in other sectors have to do with skills, but even that is regulated.
“Sometimes it’s because it’s cheap labor that they can easily exploit. You can’t sit with millions of unemployed South Africans and in certain sectors they employ foreigners without regulations.
“We must introduce those quotas and (stick to them) ‘very hard.’ In doing so, we should not be seen as xenophobic or in violation of international conventions, but at the same time we protect our national interests. Therefore, it will be an act balance. “
New legislation?
In September 2019, the Small Business Development Department said it is working on a new law that will restrict foreigners to work in certain sectors of the economy.
In an interview with 702, Small Business Development Minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said the legislation is in line with other countries, such as Nigeria and Zimbabwe, which have regulations that specify sectors in which foreigners cannot participate.
Although Ntshavheni did not specify exactly which sectors would be regulated, he indicated that the new legislation would be strongly informed by the laws mentioned in other African countries.
“If you look at the retail sector, when we grew up, our spaza stores were run by ourselves, by our neighbors, we took over our mothers’ stores,” he said at the time.
“If (you look) now, that’s not the demographic of who runs our spaza stores.”
Read: South Africa to Present New BEE Changes to Drive Transformation
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