President Ramaphosa promised 10,000 extra labour inspectors but zero have been deployed

President Cyril Ramaphosa promised the deployment of 10,000 permanent labour inspectors during his State of the Nation Address (SONA) on 12 February 2026. 

However, the Labour Minister told Parliament that her department is still waiting for funding to employ these inspectors, with none having been deployed so far. 

This is an example of President Ramaphosa promising something in his SONA that is, in reality, difficult to implement and unlikely to be implemented. 

Unfortunately, the financial reality of the South African government is that it cannot afford to hire an additional 10,000 labour inspectors without a significant increase to the Department of Labour’s budget. 

This increase would have to be permanent to keep these labour inspectors employed, working to crack down on undocumented workers. 

President Ramaphosa promised in his 2026 SONA that Home Affairs and labour inspectors will work together to crack down on violations of existing immigration and labour laws. 

“Employers that hire foreign nationals without the required visas will face the full might of the law,” Ramaphosa said. 

“To tighten enforcement, we will hire an additional 10,000 labour inspectors this year. As we undertake these interventions, we insist that the laws of our country be observed by everyone.” 

Ramaphosa coupled the increase in labour inspectors with enhanced efforts from Home Affairs to secure South Africa’s borders. 

The Labour Department clarified after the SONA that this is a separate initiative from its Project 20K, which is a long-term plan to recruit 20,000 inspectors and enforcement interns over two years. 

These efforts to increase the number of labour inspectors come after evidence of widespread non-compliance from South African companies with labour laws. 

In particular, the department said many businesses are continuously breaking the law by employing undocumented workers. 

“What is happening is that we have employers who are budgeting not to comply. They basically say they will pay the fines to keep employing illegal immigrants,” Deputy Minister Ntuthuko Sibiya said. 

“That is how far they want to go. That is how bad things are on the ground. They are saving money for themselves and want to maximise profits.” 

There is little scope for the department to increase the severity of fines, with its proposed solution being to increase the number of inspectors to make inspections and fines more frequent. 

This, it hopes, will make it too burdensome and expensive for companies to willfully employ undocumented immigrants. 

Zero of 10,000 deployed

The promise of 10,000 additional inspectors and closer work between Home Affairs and the Labour Department has not been borne out in reality. 

Of the 10,000 promised, not a single additional labour inspector has been employed or trained by the Labour Department.

This was revealed by Labour Minister Nomakhosazana Meth in response to a question in Parliament from MP Joyce Basson. 

Basson asked Meth about the promised 10,000 inspectors to be added in the 2026/27 financial year and the cost of their recruitment. 

“The department has submitted a bid to request funding from the National Treasury and is awaiting feedback in that regard,” Meth said. 

“So, thus far, there are no additional labour inspectors that have been approved, advertised, appointed, or deployed.”

As a result, increased compliance from the Labour Department is effectively nil, as it does not have the additional capacity to crack down on undocumented workers. 

The strategy of more regular inspections and fines cannot work without a significant increase in capacity at the department. 

While this may be the government’s desire, it does not have the financial space to hire 10,000 extra inspectors without significantly cutting the budget elsewhere. 

“The department has not been able to secure the budget for implementation and deployment of additional labour inspectors,” Meth said. 

“There is no budget that has been allocated yet for the recruitment, salaries, training, and deployment of the 10,000 additional labour inspectors.” 

Meth said the lack of funding is the main obstacle to the project’s implementation and, ultimately, the only one that matters. 

Without the additional funding, it is impossible for the department to hire additional inspectors.