A crackdown by officials at farms in the Robertson area has uncovered a slew of non-compliance with South Africa’s labour laws.
The crackdown follows violent clashes last month between groups of foreign workers over job opportunities.
A Department of Employment and Labour probe has found that 60% of the farm workers employed on farms in the Robertson area are foreigners, some of whom got their jobs using fake IDs.
A department official, police and officials from the Department of Home Affairs visited the area just weeks after the clashes involving Lesotho and Zimbabwean farm workers.
At the time, labourers from Lesotho alleged that employers prioritised job opportunities for Zimbabweans. Labour brokers previously told Weekend Argus that farmers preferred to use Zimbabweans because they had a better work ethic.
“What we have seen is that the ratio of foreigners versus South Africans is 60% in favour of foreigners,” said the department’s chief inspector, David Esau.
“Farmers are saying that they are not in charge of employment practices. This means that the responsibility falls on the labour brokers, and we found that many times these labour brokers are foreign nationals themselves.
“This is something that needs to be investigated because you need to be registered with the Department of Labour to employ people.”
Discontent has been growing in parts of the country over the number of foreign workers employed in different sectors, while South Africans are supposedly...
Finance treatment is the answer after all. Where did the bravado of football fans who claimed Son Heung-min was being ostracized go? Recently, claims spread on social media and online communities ...