Local waiters not up to the job

SA’s restaurants are going to be in trouble if Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba gets his way in insisting that 60% of employees must be South African. If his officials checked restaurants in Joburg, for instance, many would be forced to close for a complete lack of South African waiters.

Trouble is, restaurant owners say South Africans tend to associate such work with apartheid servitude and therefore avoid it. Then there’s the reality that many Zimbabwean immigrants, in particular, are relatively well educated and articulate in English, a decided advantage when dealing with the public in a service industry.

Gigaba could end up with souffle on his face if his intervention results in restaurant closures.