A few years ago, the EFF carried out what we would not be off the mark to label mock inspections of eateries in Sandton, where they checked whether establishments were operating within the law.
What had prompted the exercise was growing noise about the restaurants employing undocumented foreign nationals that the owners allegedly exploited since the workers, by virtue of their illegal status in the country, had no recourse.
The high-profile visits of the red berets, carried out in the presence of its leaders and the almost customary presence of media cameras, were followed by condemnation from the then minister of labour and employment Thulas Nxesi that it was his department’s mandate and duty to carry out such inspections.
It could be argued then and now that nature allows no vacuum, and the actions of a political party were symptomatic of the perceived lack of interest by those tasked with the job at hand.
The hype died down when, naturally, the party involved found other pursuits worth their time, and with the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic everybody else, seemingly, including the department, became otherwise occupied.
We were reminded of the red beret’s antics this week when multi-disciplinary teams made up of officials and functionaries from the departments of home affairs, labour and employment and the police carried out raids at major shopping malls across the country.
The raids at such places as Cedar Square in Sandton, Johannesburg, Menlyn in Pretoria and the Mall of the North in Polokwane, Limpopo, were caught on television news cameras when some eateries were exposed for not complying with regulations, such as those requiring them to supply workers with personal protective equipment and other violations of labour laws.
In the raids, some undocumented foreign nationals and their employers were also arrested.
The officials, in some cases as high as a director-general of the department of labour, gave interviews on the raids, detailing their findings of the conditions in the restaurants, including structural and capacity shortfalls in contraventions of labour and safety laws.
Some big-name establishments were found wanting and exposed for their disregard of the law and on that front, we hope the franchiser will forthwith help the state by making sure their franchisees legally comply.
An official explained that they regularly carry out such raids and rely on tip-offs and sting operations to ensure compliance with the law.
Minister of Home Affairs Leon Schreiber has assured the nation that they will intensify the inspections in restaurants, mines and other sectors to ensure wholesome compliance nationwide.
It may well be a case of new brooms in the ministries sweeping clean, but we welcome the enthusiasm, and long may it last.
