Minister of Employment and Labour Thulas Nxesi has decried the lack of compliance with the country’s labour laws in the clothing and textile industry.
Nxesi was reacting to news that clothing and textile factories in Newcastle showed a paltry 8% compliance rate with labour laws.
This is after a team of inspectors from various labour centres, the Bargaining Council, the Department of Home Affairs and the police conducted blitz inspections of factories in Newcastle and Madadeni Industrial Park in KwaZulu-Natal last week.
“A total of 70 factories, employing a total 30 539 employees, were inspected during the campaign, with six night inspections conducted. The compliance rate was disappointingly low at only 8% of the inspected factories,” Nxesi said.
He said immigration officers had arrested 100 illegal foreign nationals, while one fraudulent case of misrepresentation in terms of section 61 of the Employment Equity Act was opened with the police. “A total of over R148-million was claimed through the enforcement notices that were served,” Nxesi said.
Nxesi said that the clothing and textile factories of Newcastle have developed a reputation for employing illegal foreign nationals and allegedly subjecting workers to poor working conditions.
Department of Employment and Labour chief director of provincial operations Mncedisi Khambula said the department acknowledges that the clothing and textile factories pose a “headache” when it comes to compliance. Khambula noted a new practice of employers re-registering their factories as new operations at the expense of workers.
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