Employment and Labour Dept steps up inspections in four key sectors

The Department of Employment and Labour says it is targeting four key sectors as part of intensified inspections to tackle widespread non-compliance.

Deputy Minister Jomo Sibiya says construction is among the sectors being targeted, alongside agriculture, hospitality, and wholesale and retail. He says these sectors have recorded high levels of labour law violations, including worker exploitation and the employment of undocumented migrants.

Sibiya was speaking during a multidisciplinary inspection at a construction site in Sandton, Johannesburg earlier Wednesday.

“A number of people also who are trading, that is part of hospitality, who are trading in wholesale. In fact, in the wholesale retail and wholesale sector, it’s one of the sectors that we’re focusing on. So, those are the top four sectors that we’re focusing on. And all of them have a number of people who are operating who are not supposed to be operating in that space. We need to clean it. We need to enforce our laws. We need to make sure that all our South African laws … it doesn’t matter which one, by-laws, labour laws, immigration laws, all of them must be enforced and be respected,” says Sibiya.