Durban company owner arrested along with allegedly undocumented foreign truck driver staff
About 20 undocumented foreign nationals were arrested at a KwaZulu-Natal mining and logistics company after a surprise raid led by Premier Thamsanqa Ntuli.
The operation was sparked by a tip-off that more than 80 undocumented truck drivers were employed there, undercutting local workers.
Ntuli warned that employers hiring undocumented workers would be arrested as raids continue.
At least 20 undocumented foreign nationals, believed to be truck drivers, were taken into custody on Friday morning as part of an unannounced operation at a Durban mining and logistics company.
The company's owner has also been arrested, according to KwaZulu-Natal Premier Thamsanqa Ntuli, but he has not appeared in court yet and therefore cannot be identified.
The premier led the operation, which took place after an anonymous tip-off that the company was employing more than 80 undocumented foreign nationals as truck drivers.
'We are here because there has been a cry from the local truck drivers that their opportunities are given to undocumented foreign nationals because they accept low salaries. Our informers told us that there are almost 85 undocumented foreign nationals who are driving trucks for this company alone. We were able to find some of them this morning,' Ntuli said.
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He added that employers who hire undocumented foreigners must be held liable and face criminal charges because they know the law and should not employ people who do not have proper papers.
'They must be legal and within a certain category (scarce skills) before employment. No South African can go to another country without papers and be employed there. Unfortunately, our business leaders in the province employ these people. This seriously affects our economy and unemployment rate,' Ntuli said.
On Thursday, Ntuli unveiled the Sibaya Coastal Precinct in Durban, a R6 billion investment that he says will create more than 70 000 jobs in five years.
Ntuli assured investors they would ensure the fight against crime was heightened to attract more investors to the province.
During the operation on Friday, Ntuli said: 'We need to protect our economy, and we need to protect our people. With this, we are sending a strong message to companies that are still not abiding by the law. I just decided to meet with factory owners and other businesses in the province to communicate a strong message. They must know that they will be arrested when they continue with this.'
Ntuli said the operation was ongoing and that more unannounced visits could be expected to factories and companies around the province.
On Wednesday, he said, the police had an operation in Hammarsdale, where more than 100 undocumented foreign nationals were arrested.
On Thursday, during an operation in Chatsworth, more than 20 undocumented foreign nationals were also arrested, according to the premier.
'Those are huge numbers in the space of two days. You will find that some of them have criminal cases. Apart from going through the deportation process, they will have to face those criminal charges first,' he said.
Ntuli added that the South African Bargaining Council would check whether locals working in the companies were being paid the minimum wage.
In May, police raided a factory in KwaDukuza, just outside Durban, after a tip-off that a company was employing more than 300 undocumented foreign nationals as factory workers.
The raid, which Ntuli also led, was also joined by provincial police commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi and officials from the Departments of Labour and Home Affairs.
During that raid, 179 foreign nationals were arrested, and 158 of them were found to be undocumented.
Ntuli said officials were working with the Department of Home Affairs and the police to speed up the deportation process.
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