SA workers must be at front of queue — Nxesi

The government is proceeding with the formulation of a controversial policy to govern the employment of foreign workers, especially in low-skill jobs, to give priority to South Africans.

This follows comments by several government ministers including finance minister Tito Mboweni about the employment of foreign workers, especially in the hospitality sector.

Conflicts between local and foreign workers, for example in the trucking industry, have led to violence and even deaths, and contributed to hostility towards foreign workers.

Employment & labour minister Thulas Nxesi told the employment and labour committee on Friday that a national employment policy with a subtheme of a labour migration policy was being developed in conjunction with the department of home affairs and would be ready for submission to cabinet soon.

“The [labour migration] policy talks to the issue of recruitment from outside the country, especially when you talk about low-skilled jobs. We must expect a big debate on this one,” Nxesi said.

“What we will not do is to run away from our responsibility to protect our citizens,” he said. With the unemployment rate, especially among youth, sitting where it is, “there was no way that the government could not intervene”.

“What is very clear is that it can’t be that at low-level skill areas you take all foreigners or foreign nationals at the expense of the South Africans and disrespecting the labour laws,” the minister said.

Different options were being looked at, including quotas, but Nxesi said the policy would not be a one-size-fits-all one. Each and every sector would be looked at differently.

He said an interministerial committee had been set up by President Cyril Ramaphosa to do the work under the leadership of the labour department and department of home affairs.

Developing the policy required a balancing act so that the constitution’s Bill of Rights (that protects everyone who lives in SA) was not violated, while respecting the right of everyone to work.

Also, SA had signed a number of binding international conventions giving rights to refugees, both legal and illegal, which had to be taken into account as well as SA’s situation of mass unemployment, especially at the lower levels. SA’s unemployment rate is 32.5%.

What also needed to be considered was that SA businesses wanted to access African markets. though Nxesi pointed out that other African countries had adopted policies giving their citizens priority in the labour market.

Nxesi said employers deliberately preferred foreign workers because they were cheap labour —“they are ready to take anything and neglected South Africans. The security, hospitality, farming and retail sectors were sectors where foreign nationals dominated.

In some restaurants all the workers were foreign nationals who were not accorded their rights under the Basic Conditions of Employment Act.