By Simon Nare
Portfolio committee of labour and employment chair Boyce Maneli has called for stricter laws to force employers to hire South Africans ahead of foreign nationals, saying the current laws are lenient.
Addressing Parliament’s weekly committee media briefing in Cape Town on Thursday, Maneli said employers who hired undocumented foreign nationals were fined R2500 per person.
He said this was a drop in the ocean for some of the companies, who made billions in profits.
“We need to emphasise that they are not deterrent at all and we need to relook at them. It’s the task that the legislature must look at. We are engaging the ministry in this regard with an understating that there is a need to look at the law differently.
“The issue about fines as you put it in the legislation, each time you have to make such a determination, it is an amendment process and it takes longer. So, for some of these… we think should be considered differently from a point of regulation, which allows the minister to access the material conditions that prevail at a particular time and make that determination,” he said.
Maneli said that this proposal from the committee must be discussed and considered.
He said the committee was also looking at the Labour Migration Policy as the current law only obligated that fines be paid.
Maneli emphasised that employers should hire South Africans, not only because this contributed to the economy, but it helped address social challenges.
“Otherwise it is very easy to pay R2500, but in a turnover of billions, that is nothing and it will not change the situation we are in,” he said.
Maneli said the behavior and attitude of employers who hired undocumented foreign nationals also needed to change.
He has also reaffirmed the committee’s support for joint labour inspection operations, emphasising the importance of intergovernmental collaborations to improve compliance and effectiveness.
The committee has welcomed an undertaking by department of labour to increase the number of labour inspectors.
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