BL Premium reports that Huawei Technologies SA has agreed to ensure that South Africans account for at least half of its local workforce after the government took the Chinese technology firm to court in February for flouting quotas on foreign employees.

The Department of Employment and Labour (DEL) and Huawei said on Tuesday they had settled out of court after the department’s application to the Labour Court on 11 February. Authorities had said that based on a 2020 audit, almost 90% of Huawei’s workforce were foreigners, contravening a requirement that 60% of workers must be South African. The DEL had sought a fine of R1.5m, or 2% of the local firm’s 2020 turnover, for the alleged rule breaches. “The department has accepted Huawei SA’s employment equity plan which addresses equitable representation of South Africans to above 50% within three years, especially from designated groups as defined in the Employment Equity Act,” the DEL indicated in a statement. Advocate Fikiswa Bede, chief director for statutory and advocacy services at the department, said: “The parties see this as a win-win, as it fosters a public and private partnership that facilitates the transfer of skills, while also addressing the issue of unemployment by creating jobs in the ICT sector.”

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Mudiwa Gavaza at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
• Read too, Huawei agrees to boost hiring of locals in SA to 50%, at Moneyweb

Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page