- Inspector General Aggy Moiloa says most of the jobs were entry-level positions that South Africans could fill.
- Agriculture recorded the most foreign workers, followed by wholesale and retail.
The Department of Employment and Labour says most jobs held by foreign nationals at workplaces visited by inspectors were entry-level positions that South Africans could fill.
This was revealed by Labour Inspector General, Aggy Moiloa while speaking at the department’s Public Employment Services national strategic planning conference in Rustenburg.
Moiloa said inspectors visited 168,766 workplaces during the first half of the 2026/27 financial year. Of these, 21,371 employed foreign nationals, with 231,850 foreign workers recorded.
According to a statement released by the department on Thursday, Moiloa said the findings were unfortunate because most of these were entry-level jobs that South Africans could occupy.
However, the figures released do not show how many of the foreign workers held entry-level positions or how many were working without the required documents. They also do not give the total number of South African workers employed at the inspected workplaces.
Agriculture recorded the highest number of foreign workers, with 46,533 employed across 1,205 employers.
Wholesale and retail followed, with 41,359 foreign workers across 6,698 employers.
Other sectors in the department’s top 10 included manufacturing, hospitality, construction, mining, private security, financial services and education.
Gauteng recorded the highest provincial figure at 59,624 foreign workers, followed closely by North West with 58,533.
The Western Cape recorded 34,675, Limpopo 24,972 and the Eastern Cape 20,385.
She called for stronger cooperation between the Public Employment Services branch and labour inspectors, saying “enforcement depends on capacity on both sides”.
The department said Moiloa was also banking on Project 10 000 to recruit new inspectors and strengthen enforcement.
