Threat of fine, prison for those who employ illegal foreigners

Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has called for harsher sanctions against business owners who knowingly employ undocumented foreigners.

Motsoaledi and Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane, joined forces for a stakeholder engagement and service delivery monitoring session in Gqeberha.

This comes after a mobile home affairs trucks went to various communities at the request of the provincial government, aiming to assist citizens in obtaining their documents.

Motsoaledi advocated for sanctions against those who knowingly employed undocumented foreigners, suggested implementing by-laws to prevent them from operating businesses and encouraged parents to register their children, threatening a fine or imprisonment.

Motsoaledi confirmed the department of cooperative governance and traditional affairs (Cogta) and the department of small business development were collaborating to tighten laws to prevent undocumented foreigners from operating businesses in the country.

In response to community calls to shut down spaza shops owned by illegal foreigners amid cases of food poisoning among children, Motsoaledi and Cogta Minister Thembi Nkadimeng co-hosted a workshop last October in Ekurhuleni.

According to home affairs, stakeholders had agreed to immediate joint inspections of businesses by labour, health, trade, industry and competition, and immigration inspectorate teams to enforce compliance with applicable laws.

They agreed to audit spaza shops and establish mechanisms for registering them with traditional leaders and municipalities.

There was also an agreement on coordinating and collaborating on border law enforcement, aiming to support traditional authorities in keeping records of foreign nationals in their communities.