By Palesa Matlala
- A proposed new law could see households fined up to R100,000 for each foreign national they employ without legal permission to work.
- South Africans have until 6 November to comment on the Employment Services Amendment Bill before Parliament considers the proposed changes.
Your gardener, nanny or domestic worker could leave you facing a R100,000 fine if they are a foreign national without the legal right to work in South Africa.
That is one of the major changes proposed in the Employment Services Amendment Bill, now before Parliament. The bill was gazetted on 26 May after Cabinet approval, and Parliament opened it for public comment on 18 September. South Africans have until 4pm on 6 November to have their say.
The bill does not ban South Africans from employing foreigners. It targets employers, including private households, who hire foreign nationals without the legal right to work.
Under the proposal, the Labour Court could fine an employer up to R100,000 per undocumented worker for a first offence. A second offence within three years could bring a R200,000 fine per worker, and further repeat or serious violations could bring a fine of R1 million, or 10% of annual turnover for businesses, whichever is greater.
Deputy Minister of Employment and Labour Jomo Sibiya has said employers have a responsibility to check a foreign worker’s documents before hiring them. The Department of Employment and Labour has already increased workplace inspections targeting employers who do not comply with immigration and labour laws.
Not everyone agrees the bill gets this right. Professor Jo Vearey, co-director of the African Centre for Migration and Society, has argued that domestic work in South Africa reflects deep, long standing inequality, with many middle-class households benefiting from what she calls “poorly paid black labour.”
She said data does not support the belief that migrants are broadly taking jobs from South African citizens, and argued government should focus more on helping migrant workers regularise their status than on penalising households.
The proposed law would also give the Minister of Employment and Labour powers to make regulations on labour migration, including rules aimed at helping employers recruit South African citizens or permanent residents first.
The question for households is a practical one. Should someone who pays a gardener or domestic worker be expected to check that person’s legal right to work, and should getting that wrong carry a fine of up to R100,000? Those are questions South Africans can now raise with Parliament.
The bill still has to pass through the full parliamentary process before it can become law, including committee review, debate and presidential assent. Parliament currently lists it at the committee stage. For now, no new R100,000 fine has taken effect.
South Africans have until 6 November to tell Parliament what they think.
Pictured above: A domestic worker at work.
Image source: Pexels
