ANC wants employment quotas for private companies in Gauteng

ANC Gauteng secretary Thembinkosi Nciza wants to force private companies to hire South Africans instead of foreigners.

Nciza shared the quota system proposal at a press briefing on Wednesday following the party’s provincial executive committee meeting.

He highlighted the problem of illegal immigrants in South Africa who are employed by the private sector. “It is illegal to employ someone who is an illegal immigrant,” he said.

Nciza highlighted the restaurant industry, where he said you hardly come across a South African serving you.

To resolve the challenge of employment, he proposed a quota system to ensure that South Africans are employed in the private sector.

“There must be some quota that speaks to locals. Many people believe that only the government must employ our people. It is not possible,” he said.

He said everyone is blaming everything on the government, including the high unemployment rate in the country.

“If the private sector does not come to the party, our people will revolt against the government without seeing the private sector is to blame,” he said.

He called on private companies to start employing South Africans. “Let’s agree on a quota. We must have a quote and will start in Gauteng.”

While the ANC wants to drive local employment, many experts highlighted that the country is experiencing a skills crisis which requires immigrants to resolve.

Institute for Security Studies founder Jakkie Cilliers said the skills crisis can be described as an “absolute disaster”.

He said the country is losing many of the skilled professionals it produces, and the government is making it impossible for skilled foreigners to immigrate to the country.

Cilliers said the South African government is blocking the tremendous potential that skilled foreign professionals can bring to South Africa through its punitive approach to immigration.

“The situation is terrible. If we want to grow the economy, then we must attract and retain skilled people.”

However, the South African government’s approach to immigration is to keep foreigners out of the country no matter what skills or knowledge they bring.

Economist Thabi Leoka highlighted that companies struggle to fill vacancies despite the high unemployment in South Africa.

The reason is a lack of skills and a mismatch between the jobs offered to young people and the jobs they want.

For example, mining companies in the North West cannot find enough workers. This can be because young people don’t want to be rock drillers in the province.

These companies offer salaries well above minimum wage but can still not fill all available job placements.

Leoka said it is also a function of poor governance, with people not wanting to live in dysfunctional municipalities.