Cape Town – The Employment and Labour Department says it has launched a court action against Chinese tech giant Huawei for contravening the Employment Equity Act by hiring 90% foreign labour locally.
Immigration regulations allowed Huawei to employ 60% South Africans and 40% foreign nationals.
According to Fin24, the department said on Friday that an audit in 2020 found that only 10% of Huawei’s staff were South African.
A department of labour inspection showed among other things that:
- All five of Huawei’s top management team are foreign nationals. Huawei does plan not to employ any new top managers from designated groups in the next two years. Designated groups are black, coloured and Indian South Africans, as well as woman of all races, and people with disabilities.
- At senior management level, out of a total of 71 employees, 27 (38%) are foreign nationals, and Huawei is projecting to increase this number.
EWN reported on Monday that Huawei was likely to face more charges, with government saying it had reason to believe that the majority of the company’s foreign employees did not have work permits.
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The government wanted the company to be slapped with a R1.5 million fine or 2% of its local turnover, the report said.
According to Bloomberg News, the department said it wanted to “send a strong message” to other employers who do not comply with employment equity policies” that there will be consequences for non-compliance.
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