Cape Town – Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has warned they will take action against anyone who broke the law by employing illegal foreigners in Robertson following clashes between Lesotho nationals and Zimbabweans.
Motsoaledi was on Tuesday providing an oral reply to a statement by a member of the ANC in the National Assembly where he said a lot of laws were flouted in the hiring of illegal foreigners.
The Department of Employment and Labour also warned on Saturday that they were investigating the matter and action would be taken against anyone who broke the law.
It said it had not received any application for a corporate visa in Robertson for the hiring of foreigners.
Motsoaledi said they were looking into what happened in Robertson in the Western Cape.
Zimbabweans and Basotho were said to be clashing over jobs in the Cape Winelands.
Motsoaledi said he had a statement from the labour brokers from Robertson where they denied wrongdoing.
He said the matter was far from being over.
He said when any company or employer wants to bring someone from outside the country they must apply for a corporate visa.
“If any company or employer wishes to hire a foreign national, they must go to the Department of Labour and give proof that they have looked around in the country and they cannot find a suitable or appropriate South African for that type of job. The Department of Labour will then issue them a certificate.
“With that certificate they come to Home Affairs to apply for a corporate visa that they want to bring people from outside the country to perform a particular job. The corporate visa, which Home Affairs will issue, will have the number of people to be hired and together with their names and the employer will then… because those people will have to cross the border on the strength of the corporate visa so that they don’t become illegal,” said Motsoaledi.
He said they had heard that labour brokers had in this case hired the people in Robertson.
But the labour brokers deny this saying the real culprits were the farmers as they wanted Zimbabweans.
He said this matter was far from over and they will get to the bottom of it.
They would not allow the laws of the land to be broken by anyone.
“This matter is still far from being over. We are going to investigate. From Home Affairs we don’t remember issuing any corporate visa and the Department of Labour will have to give us in writing whether anybody came to apply for that.
“They have to scrutinise the statement from the labour brokers association. A lot of laws have been broken here and I believe many people are going to be charged by both Home Affairs and the Department of Labour,” said Motsoaledi.
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