I am a small business owner, and was also doing wrong by employing illegal immigrants.
But, while everybody is complaining about the companies that so do, they never ask why it is done.
The reasons are simple:
1. We employ them because they want to work. South Africans want to sit … and be paid. South Africans don’t want to do hard labour any more.
2. They don’t get ‘sick’ all the time, they don’t strike all the time, and they don’t opt for go-slows. They also work for a wage that is reasonable and affordable for small businesses.
3. The economy is very bad and small businesses struggle to stay alive, but South Africans will not work for less than R250 per day.
I am in the granite industry, and I have let my illegals go. Since then, for three weeks in total, I have been struggling to employ South Africans, but I cannot find anyone who is willing to work for less than R250 a day, AND I must train them.
Does the Minister know this, and that small businesses are going to close down because of this? It is definitely going to bring down the economy even further.
I have previously tried to go to Home Affairs to get my illegal immigrant workers’ papers in order, but that is an impossible task. The offices where you must apply do not open until 11am, by which time the queue outside is at least 250 people long. Then, at 12.30pm, the office closes for lunch and only opens again at 2pm. By 3pm, you are told to come back tomorrow.
I did that for three days and realised that it wasn’t going to work. Maybe the Minister should look into his workers, and the hours actually worked.
And that is why we employ illegal immigrants – so that they (and we) can work, live, contribute to the economy, and pay VAT and taxes.
But as it is now, I am busy closing down my business, and there are four South African families that are also going to be without an income.
