South Africa’s (SA) Department of Employment and Labour is preparing to hire 10 000 new labour inspectors to crack down on businesses that deliberately break the law by employing undocumented foreign nationals.
The move follows a weekend warning from President Cyril Ramaphosa, who told business owners to stop hiring undocumented workers.
Deputy Minister Ntuthuko Sibiya explained that many companies are now “budgeting not to comply” with the country’s laws. Because current court fines are low, business owners simply set aside money to pay the fines while continuing to exploit illegal labour to maximise their own profits.
By hiring undocumented workers, these businesses avoid registering them for the Unemployment Insurance Fund and the Compensation Fund. This allows employers to pocket the saved money and keep their labor costs artificially low on the ground.
The department hopes that deploying thousands of new inspectors across the country will make it impossible for non-compliant companies to keep hiding from the law.
–ChannelAfrica–
