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Fin24 reports that according to Department of Employment and Labour (DEL) Minister Thulas Nxesi, the government's Labour Migration Policy (LMP) cannot be compared to apartheid-era job reservation as the proposed migration policy is "not racial".
At the beginning of March, the draft national LMP was put forward. It includes quotas for how many foreign nationals can be hired in certain sectors and suggests fines of up to R100,000 for employers that disregard the quotas. The policy document will be out for public comment for 90 days, after which it will be referred back to Cabinet and then to Parliament for consideration. Responding to a question from DA MP Michael Cordo on who helped the DEL put the policy together, Nxesi said multiple government departments, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and academics assisted. Cardo charged that the LMP was similar to the apartheid government's job reservation policy, which prevented South Africans who were not white from accessing jobs in certain sectors. Nxesi denied Cardo's charge, saying: "It might sound so but it's not. The apartheid policy was racial. This is not racial. This is about preserving the interests of South Africans. You are coming up with this because the employers in the sectors who want to exploit cheap labour want that to continue." EFF MP Khosi Mkhonto asked Nxesi if the policy was a kneejerk response to pressure caused by xenophobic violence and hostilities toward foreign nationals from South Africans. Nxesi said the government had to "respond to the employment expectations of the South African people". He stated that while the Constitution guaranteed foreign nationals could not be banned from the job market, the government was committed to regulating their participation to prevent "distortion" of the job market.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Khulekani Magubane at Fin24
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