The clothing and textile factories in the Newcastle area have shown a low compliance rate with the country’s labour laws, says employment and labour minister Thulas Nxesi.
Nxesi said to address the high levels of worker exploitation, a team of inspectors from various labour centres, the home affairs department and the police conducted inspections of factories in Newcastle and Madadeni Industrial Park from Monday to Friday last week.
“A total of 70 factories with 30,539 employees were inspected during the campaign, including six night inspections.
“The compliance rate was disappointingly low at only 8% of the inspected factories,” Nxesi told the community of Newcastle at the Amajuba TVET Stadium in Madadeni on Thursday.
He said 100 illegal foreign nationals were arrested by immigration officers in the factories.
They comprised 73 Lesotho nationals, 18 from Eswatini, two Malawians, a Zimbabwean and a Mozambican. Five Chinese nationals who are employers were also arrested.
Nxesi said R148m was claimed through the enforcement notices that were served.
Nxesi said the textile and clothing factories in the area had developed a reputation for employing illegal foreigner workers and allegedly subjecting them to working conditions resembling “modern-day slavery”.
He said the government would have no option but to close some of these factories for not complying.
Nxesi’s visit is part of an oversight as a “champion” of Amajuba district, the area which also includes Newcastle, Dannhauser and eMalangeni local municipalities.
Nxesi was selected to oversee development as part of the District Development Model (DDM), a programme of government aimed at bringing together resources and services from all levels of government to where the people are.
In addition to his department, other organisations participating in the Amajuba DDM campaign include the Unemployment Insurance Fund and the Compensation Fund, the Amajuba district council, the Newcastle local municipality and national departments of health, social development and home affairs.
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Most clothing factories in Newcastle don’t comply with labour laws: Nxesi
Image: Freddy Mavunda/© Business Day
The clothing and textile factories in the Newcastle area have shown a low compliance rate with the country’s labour laws, says employment and labour minister Thulas Nxesi.
Nxesi said to address the high levels of worker exploitation, a team of inspectors from various labour centres, the home affairs department and the police conducted inspections of factories in Newcastle and Madadeni Industrial Park from Monday to Friday last week.
“A total of 70 factories with 30,539 employees were inspected during the campaign, including six night inspections.
“The compliance rate was disappointingly low at only 8% of the inspected factories,” Nxesi told the community of Newcastle at the Amajuba TVET Stadium in Madadeni on Thursday.
He said 100 illegal foreign nationals were arrested by immigration officers in the factories.
They comprised 73 Lesotho nationals, 18 from Eswatini, two Malawians, a Zimbabwean and a Mozambican. Five Chinese nationals who are employers were also arrested.
Nxesi said R148m was claimed through the enforcement notices that were served.
Nxesi said the textile and clothing factories in the area had developed a reputation for employing illegal foreigner workers and allegedly subjecting them to working conditions resembling “modern-day slavery”.
He said the government would have no option but to close some of these factories for not complying.
Nxesi’s visit is part of an oversight as a “champion” of Amajuba district, the area which also includes Newcastle, Dannhauser and eMalangeni local municipalities.
Nxesi was selected to oversee development as part of the District Development Model (DDM), a programme of government aimed at bringing together resources and services from all levels of government to where the people are.
In addition to his department, other organisations participating in the Amajuba DDM campaign include the Unemployment Insurance Fund and the Compensation Fund, the Amajuba district council, the Newcastle local municipality and national departments of health, social development and home affairs.
TimesLIVE
Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.
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