Yes, hire locals but…
RECENT events playing out in our media have inflamed our society, polarised communities and pitched neighbours against one another.
Against this backdrop, there is a debate raging about how many local versus foreigner staff an employer should employ – with a 60% minimum local South African being the benchmark, citing various bits of legislation.
The debate around this has drawn comments from different spheres – from trade unions and employer associations to representatives of the immigration fraternity – each with its own, often divergent, views.
The Forum of Immigration Practitioners, South Africa (Flipsa), wishes to place on record that we support the government’s call for companies in South Africa to employ locals first; but this has to be balanced against the need by employers to source the best skills to generate income, pay taxes and transfer skills.
The percentage quantum being bandied around in this respect seeks to deflect from the real issue of skills transference and capacity building. Studies all over the world suggest that foreign immigrants are good for a country.
Perhaps the real scourge is crime and it does not have a nationality. Our law enforcement agencies have strong laws to support them in their endeavours to address this in communities.
To this end, Fipsa supports any government initiative to delink crime and foreigners. We need to recognise that the tension has arisen due to a shrinking economic cake and perhaps some lessons can be learnt from foreigners running informal businesses in our townships.
After the deaths of 62 people and the destruction of property worth millions of rand, a parliamentary committee probing the 2008 attacks on foreigners came to the remarkable conclusion that xenophobic attitudes exist among some citizens.
It said such attitudes were “largely based on unfounded and unverified fears, as well as the inclination to stereotype foreigners as the cause of social and economic problems in the host country”.
In the words of Warren Buffet, who wrote in his yearly letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders recently: “From a standing start 240 years ago – a span of time less than triple my days on Earth – Americans have combined human ingenuity, a market system, a tide of talented and ambitious immigrants, and the rule of law to deliver abundance beyond any dreams of our forefathers.”
Fipsa aligns itself with the Minister of Home Affairs and his call for a minimum of 60% employment of South Africans.
We will campaign for zero tolerance on xenophobia and the 60/40 quota of employment.
Gershon Mosiane Chairperson of the forum of Immigration Practitioners