The African National Congress Women’s League (ANCWL) on Monday made a clarion call to Minister of Labour and Employment Nomakhosazana Meth, Higher Education and Training Minister Nobuhle Nkabane, Home Affairs Minister Dr Leon Schreiber and other relevant law enforcement agencies to institute thorough investigations into allegations of the rising integration of foreign nationals into the South African labour market without following due processes.

ANCWL secretary-general Nokuthula Nqaba acknowledged the global trends in the labour market, but said government must be prudent in its approach given the high unemployment rate facing South Africa.

She noted “amplifying assertions” that foreign nationals were securing employment without due diligence in the private and the public sector, saying they occupied strategic jobs in the top 100 of what the Department of Higher Education and Training classify as the National Scarce Skills List.

Nqaba said, if true, this was in “gross contravention” of the Employment Services Act which stated that “employers must satisfy themselves that there are no other persons in the Republic with suitable skills to fill a vacancy, before recruiting a foreign national”.

She pointed to recent publications from print and online media, which she said had divulged information from various sectors of the country’s struggling economy, where foreign nationals had been preferred over local people, whilst the same skill set was available among unemployed South African graduates.

She further pointed to allegations that institutions such as the Central University of Technology (CUT) in the Free State province, allegedly employed foreign nationals who had neither been vetted in terms of the country’s top security clearance nor had any skill set which was not found in South Africa.

“The Vice Chancellor at CUT could not explain some of the issues on the University’s recruitment protocols raised by members of the relevant portfolio committee in the National Assembly, when summoned before the parliamentary committee,” Nqaba said.

She stated that higher learning institutions must operate within the South African legal framework and must comply with laws.

“…and if these allegations are true, they are tantamount to gross violations of a litany of regulations within the framework of the country’s legislation,” she said.

In condemnation of these allegations, the ANCWL called on the relevant authority to do rigorous evaluations of all institutions of higher learning and to ensure compliance with the country’s current legislation.

“The ANCWL remains unapologetic in its resolve to be the voice of the voiceless and to continue the fight against abject poverty, high unemployment and the emancipation of women from all forms of discrimination,” Nqaba said.