In South Africa, migrants make up 4% of the population and 7% of its workforce. This is according to the Department of Employment and Labour in its submission to parliament last year while briefing the tourism committee on migration trends. However, the Labour minister Thulas Nxesi came under fire for the new employment bill policy’s quota system, which critics say is an apartheid-era job reservation scheme. The minister says the bill is not racist and is instead a way to regulate the hiring of migrants in South Africa. The document has been released for public comment for the next ninety days, after which it would be referred back to Cabinet and then sent to Parliament for deliberation. The ministry explains that the document was created to design a framework that guides the extent to which employers can employ foreign nationals while protecting the rights of migrant workers. Business Edge explores South Africa’s new employment bill with Matthew Temlett, Candidate Attorney at Ulrich Roux & Associates joining Tolulope Adeleru-Balogun for Johannesburg, South Africa.
The bill, according to Matthew Temlett, was crafted to address a number of issues viz: the responsibility of monitoring what employers can and can not do by taking it out of their hands (which is what obtains under the current labour act) and placing it within the scope of the Labour Department. “The Labour Department will now have guidelines and minimum requirements for these equity policies to be met.”
Another thing that South Africa’s employment bill is the idea that foreign workers get jobs in industries where South Africans are available and able to take on those roles, such as mining and as waiters. “South Africa is not immune to the issue of labour migration…. this policy is not put in place too deter the movement of people looking for employment. The Minister of Education put out a list of skills that are lacking in South Africa and (the new employment bill) encourages foreigners to seek for jobs in these areas,” says Temlett.
The full edition of Thursday’s episode of Business Edge is above.