Moiloa said their top-five high-risk sectors were agriculture, hospitality, iron and steel, construction, and wholesale and retail.
“We found that there were at least 677 foreign nationals in these farms we visited and they were all documented. There were 11,000 South Africans [employed there].
“The compliance level was at 54%, so we were not happy. But we found farms that were really doing their best and we do not expect 100% compliance, it’s impossible. Some try to meet us halfway and we provide improvement notice," said Moiloa.
She said 570 farms were inspected between Monday and Tuesday last week.
"It was painful to witness how workers were made to have their lunch in the sun and some during the pruning season did not have proper PPE. However, there were still non-compliant farms during these agricultural inspections – 24 men and six women were undocumented foreign nationals from Lesotho. They were arrested by home affairs and are still in custody," Moiloa said.
“There were 30 undocumented foreign nationals from Lesotho that were arrested on a farm. They had passports and visas that were all fraudulent. They told us they were picked up from their country by a labour broker and dumped into the farm to work."
Moiloa said they are not sure if they were trafficked into the country or not, and they were currently doing their investigations because the farm owner was not there and therefore could not arrest him.
She said the matter had been handed over to other departments for further investigation.
On employers found in violation of various things, Moiloa said: "We give employers 14 to 60 days to comply, we only do a follow up on notices such as PPE, toilet facility proximity, etc. However, when workers are underpaid, an employer is given 14 days to repay workers and if that period passes and they are not paid, we serve the employer with persecution notice.
"No farms were closed but certain activities were prohibited. We prohibited machines because there was no proof that workers had licences [to operate them]."
Hiring of documented immigrants improving – labour inspector
State conducts unexpected visits to farms across SA
Image: SUPPLIED
The department of employment and labour inspector-general, Aggy Moiloa, says despite the agricultural sector being a highly problematic and risky sector, there is an improvement in hiring documented foreign nationals.
Moiloa last week conducted unexpected visits to farms across the country.
Moiloa said their top-five high-risk sectors were agriculture, hospitality, iron and steel, construction, and wholesale and retail.
“We found that there were at least 677 foreign nationals in these farms we visited and they were all documented. There were 11,000 South Africans [employed there].
“The compliance level was at 54%, so we were not happy. But we found farms that were really doing their best and we do not expect 100% compliance, it’s impossible. Some try to meet us halfway and we provide improvement notice," said Moiloa.
She said 570 farms were inspected between Monday and Tuesday last week.
"It was painful to witness how workers were made to have their lunch in the sun and some during the pruning season did not have proper PPE. However, there were still non-compliant farms during these agricultural inspections – 24 men and six women were undocumented foreign nationals from Lesotho. They were arrested by home affairs and are still in custody," Moiloa said.
“There were 30 undocumented foreign nationals from Lesotho that were arrested on a farm. They had passports and visas that were all fraudulent. They told us they were picked up from their country by a labour broker and dumped into the farm to work."
Moiloa said they are not sure if they were trafficked into the country or not, and they were currently doing their investigations because the farm owner was not there and therefore could not arrest him.
She said the matter had been handed over to other departments for further investigation.
On employers found in violation of various things, Moiloa said: "We give employers 14 to 60 days to comply, we only do a follow up on notices such as PPE, toilet facility proximity, etc. However, when workers are underpaid, an employer is given 14 days to repay workers and if that period passes and they are not paid, we serve the employer with persecution notice.
"No farms were closed but certain activities were prohibited. We prohibited machines because there was no proof that workers had licences [to operate them]."
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