March and March calls for stricter enforcement after 13,295 foreign nationals recorded in KZN workplaces

NewsSportLifestyleEntertainmentOpinionNewsMarch and March calls for stricter enforcement after 13,295 foreign nationals recorded in KZN workplacesLondiwe Xulu|Published 45 minutes agoCopy to ClipboardAsk AILeader of March and March, Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma.

March and March leader Jacinta Mangobese-Zuma has called for stricter enforcement of employment laws after Department of Employment and Labour figures recorded 13,295 foreign nationals at inspected workplaces in KwaZulu-Natal during the first half of the 2026/27 financial year.

The figures were contained in a report by the department’s Inspection and Enforcement Services, which recorded 231,850 foreign nationals at 21,371 inspected workplaces across the country.

KwaZulu-Natal ranked sixth nationally by the number of foreign nationals recorded, behind Gauteng, North West, Western Cape, Limpopo and the Eastern Cape.

The figures reflect workers found during inspections and do not, on their own, establish that those workers were employed unlawfully.

Speaking to The Mercury, Mangobese-Zuma said the department should take action rather than simply publish statistics.

She said March and March had repeatedly raised concerns about foreign nationals occupying jobs, while calling for South Africans to be prioritised in employment, education and healthcare.

“Now that the numbers are out, we’re just hoping that the government is not going to just end at giving out the numbers. They need to now be stricter when it comes to the enforcement of their own laws,” she said.

Mangobese-Zuma said the figures strengthened calls for tougher enforcement of labour legislation amid South Africa’s high unemployment rate.

“We can’t be sitting in a country where we have the highest unemployment rate in the world and people are allowed to flout employment and labour laws,” she said.

Mangobese-Zuma also criticised proposed amendments to the Employment Services Act, saying she believed they could place asylum seekers on an equal footing with South African job seekers.

She described the approach as misguided and said South Africans should be prioritised for employment opportunities. 

The department’s Inspector General, Aggy Moila, said many foreign nationals were employed in entry-level positions that could potentially be occupied by South Africans.

Moila said limited enforcement capacity remained a challenge and that the department was seeking to recruit additional inspectors through Project 10,000.