SA in an immigrant labour mess because our laws are a joke

It is clear that anti-foreigner sentiment is rising and that government’s attempts to finally implement the immigration laws of the country are going to make some xenophobic protesters feel their fight is justified.

At the same time, though, it is clear that groups of foreigners will not sit idly by when they are targeted by South Africans… and are prepared to fight back.

The latest attempt at closing the immigrant stable door long after the horse has bolted – the action taken by the department of labour against Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei – sums up perfectly why the country is in this mess.

The department allegedly reached an agreement with Huawei that the company would be limited to employing foreigners to just 40% of its workforce.

Yet, the company allegedly not only ignored that, it went blatantly to extremes, bringing in foreigners to the point where they now comprise 90% of its staff.

If that is correct – and it still has to be adjudicated in court, it must be said – it shows that not only ordinary people regard our laws as a joke, foreign firms do, too.

This atmosphere of disregard and disrespect for all legislation has been fostered by the reality that lawbreakers in this country simply get away with it.

Companies like Huawei might well argue that because it has sophisticated technology, it needs the sort of specialist skills not available in this country.

But it seems as though the foreigners it is bringing in are not all tech wizards and that some of the jobs being done by foreigners could be done by South Africans.

The companies which are breaking our law but not honouring agreements on foreign employee quotas must be handed the most harsh of punishments.

And the department of labour must do its job with more diligence and energy.