ActionSA wants answers from govt over 6,000 foreigners employed in public service amid high unemployment rate

ActionSA has expressed concern with the South African government employing over 6,220 foreigners in the public service, despite the country facing high unemployment rates. The political party led by Herman Mashaba has called on unemployed people to be offered jobs.

This comes after Public Service and Administration Minister Mzamo Buthelezi disclosed in a parliamentary reply that those foreign nationals were currently employed in different departments around the country.

ActionSA MP Dr Tebogo Letlape, who submitted the question to Buthelezi, wanted to know the total number of foreign nationals who were employed in each department and institution of public service.

Using the government payroll and human resources system, Persal, Buthelezi said there were 6,220 foreign nationals employed across national and provincial departments as of July 31, representing 0.5% of the estimated 1.2 million public servantsboth temporary employ. The 6,220 employed foreigners included those engaged for specific durations and those who have acquired permanent residency status.

Reacting to Buthelezi’s report, Letlape expressed serious concern and demanded clarification on the criteria that was followed during the recruitment process.

“We would like to know whether they are permanent residents or whatever issues might be. We also need to be mindful that there are certain areas where we would look for people,” he said in an interview with Newzroom Afrika.

Letlape said owing to the high number of foreigners employed in the health and education sectors they would like to know if South African citizens are unable perform those jobs or not.

“There’s a greater number in health and education. The health is because the country recruits outside where South Africans don’t want to go, in rural areas in particular and in education we have a lot of higher education institutions that had open job searches for seniors positions.

“That’s understandable, but we just need to know what the percentage is and whether these jobs cannot be done by South Africans and the high unemployment rates and we need to ensure that we put many people into jobs.

Letlape said his question to the minister was sparked by Joburg mayor Dada Morero, who came under fire from political parties after he announced that he is considering hiring foreigners to work for the Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) to alleviate the language barrier burden.

“Morero’s statement raises a question - do we understand where we are with the employment of foreign nationals?”

He said it is important to assess where the citizens of this country lack critical skills needed in order to perform those duties.

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