By Nkhensani Mthombeni
- Action SA’s Dr Mikia Ramothwala says the raid follows a promise from June 30’s march to target employers hiring foreigners.
- Police and Home Affairs arrested 21 people at a Tzaneen timber factory, some without documents and others with expired papers.
Twenty-one undocumented foreign nationals have been arrested at a timber factory in Tzaneen.
Action SA, the police and Home Affairs carried out the raid together, arriving unannounced after a tip-off from workers at the factory.
Some of those arrested had no documents at all to be in the country. Others had documents that had expired.
The raid is part of a promise Action SA made during the June 30 march, when the party said it would target employers hiring undocumented foreign nationals in the region.
Dr Mikia Ramothwala, Action SA’s Tzaneen constituency head, said the pattern is common in the area.
“What makes me angrier is the fact that foreigners without rare skills are being hired in place of our people,” he said.
“Many of our young people are at home frustrated and do not know where they will get employed.”
He said employers in Tzaneen often hire undocumented workers because it lets them exploit them.
Ramothwala said he has received many messages from local workers whose employers told them there were no vacancies, only for foreign nationals to be hired at the same workplace soon after.
He said the timber factory raid is only the start. Action SA plans to visit farms, restaurants and guesthouses accused of hiring undocumented foreign nationals next.
The 21 people arrested were taken in by Home Affairs so their immigration status could be verified.
Pictured above: Illegal foreign nationals arrested at a timber factory in Tzaneen.
Image source: Supplied
