Employ Our People, Employing Undocumented Foreign Nationals A Crime - Ramaphosa
The president of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, has urged companies in his country to employ local citizens and train them to the levels required by the industry.
He makes the remarks amid tensions between local citizens and foreign nationals working there amid reports that employers prefer foreign nationals as they are better qualified and are prepared to settle for lower salaries.
Ramaphosa made the remarks in his keynote address to commemorate Human Rights Day.
He said employers risk creating and worsening social tensions by employing undocumented people an apparent reference to undocumented foreign nationals. He also urged South Africans to be tolerant towards foreign nationals. He said:
Let’s all of us do the right thing. Abayenza njalo they are also contributing towards social tensions between our citizens and foreign nationals who are living here or have taken refuge here. Department yarona of Home Affairs and Employment continues to engage with employers to ensure that compliance with the immigration and labour laws of this country happens. As a country founded on tolerance, on respect, on diversity, on non-discimination, we must never allow ourselves to turn against people who come from beyond our borders…
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We’ve always had people from other countries and if you want to know, I say this because I was in the mining industry. The mining industry yarona as we know it, was developed and built not only by South Africans but also by workers from other countries, Mozambique, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Angola, Zambia, Eswatini, and so on, they all participated.
He said challenges of unemployment should not be a scapegoat to war against foreign nationals as that promotes the spirit of xenophobia.
Ramaphosa warned that vigilantism was in violation of the law. He cited Operation Dudula which was launched in Soweto where South Africans destroyed foreign-owned vending stalls at the Bara Taxi Rank.
He added that the government cannot allow vigilantism to deal with social ills saying they will collectively, as a country deal with the issues lest “the continent turns its back against us.”
Meanwhile, almost 180 000 Zimbabwean Exemption Permit (ZEP) holders living in South Africa face deportation at the end of this year if they fail to migrate to other permits. Most are unlikely to qualify.
South Africa, on 29 December, extended the ZEP to the end of this year.
