This year has once again placed xenophobia under the spotlight. Xenophobic attacks across SA have cost many lives, displaced scores of people who now live in fear, and left businesses reeling. While the focus has been on business infrastructure that has been damaged, insufficient attention has been paid to how businesses conduct their affairs.
In a recent judgment the high court in Cape Town addressed the issue of discriminatory preferences by business, arising from a legal battle between international money transfer servicer Mukuru and the department of employment & labour.
Mukuru had a number of positions it wanted to fill, and advertised saying it preferred to hire employees who were fluent in the indigenous languages of Zimbabwe and Malawi, among others. The company’s argument in court was that this was necessary because the business is focused on the needs of foreigners from elsewhere on the continent who are living in SA, and it was imperative that Mukuru be in a position to service its clients in their native languages.
Mukuru maintained that South African employees would not be able to either communicate efficiently or relate to its customers on a cultural or ethnic basis. It advised the court that despite a diligent search, it had been unable to find suitably qualified SA citizens or permanent residents who could fill the various...
Daily Fact Check from NewsGuard AI Did Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese collapse and fall off of a stage while visiting Fiji? Midterms Watch: Pink Slime Sites Ooze Into Political Ads By S...