The Citizen (Gauteng)

South Africans ‘must get jobs’

- Chisom Jenniffer Okoye

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) says although there is nothing new about the new draft regulation­s on the employment of foreign nationals, the implementa­tion of the draft is their biggest concern, as South Africans are being displaced by the actions of businesses who hire more foreign nationals than they should.

This comes after discussion­s that took place in parliament towards the end of last year around the implementa­tion of legislatio­n regulating the employment of foreign nationals. The new draft, which is now open for public comment, proposes changes that will potentiall­y affect the applicatio­ns of work visas, corporate visas and the submission­s of skills transfer plans.

These include “requesting proof of registrati­on with a profession­al body (before only needed for critical skills visas); proof that 60% of total staff compliment employed are SA citizens or permanent residents (before only required for business visas and corporate visas); additional requiremen­ts when advertisin­g available positions; legislated timelines of 10 days for the department to provide feedback on suitable candidates from the ESSA system; and reciprocal­ly only allows companies 10 days for feedback on the candidates provided”.

Cosatu’s parliament­ary co-coordinato­r Matthew Parks said there was nothing new about these proposed changes and that it was in line with the existing labour legislatio­n, although they felt the 60% requiremen­t was too generous and needed to be higher.

“The implementa­tion of these laws by the government and businesses abiding to them is of utmost concern to us. You will find that several jobs, such as petrol attendants, restaurant waiters, domestic workers, and farm workers, are all dominated by foreign nationals.

“It is not right for SA youth to see the jobs that they could easily have gotten be taken from them. This creates conflict and xenophobic attacks will erupt.”

He said businesses were allowed to hire skilled foreign nationals when they could prove that they could not find any locals to do the jobs – but this was not what was happening and companies usually preferred migrants to do unskilled jobs because they were a cheaper option.

The implementa­tion of these laws by government and businesses abiding to them is of utmost concern to us. Matthew Parks Cosatu’s parliament­ary co-coordinato­r

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