A picture of fear and desperation emerged after a transporter told FTW that he might have no other option but to lay off his foreign national drivers because of the incidents of truck burning caused by supposed xenophobic vigilantes. The situation was so serious, said the Durban-based operator who asked that his name and that of his company be withheld, that he had approached the National Bargaining Council for the Road Freight and Logistics Industry (NBCRFLI) for assistance, only to be “disappointed by their lack of real support”. The Department of Labour, he added, had also indicated that it was his responsibility to take the necessary action to ensure that he was not targeted for employing “certain people”, whether they carried work permits or not. He also said that the relevant authorities had confirmed that he would have to obey the letter and law of labour conditions
pertaining to his employees, meaning that he would have to pay each one of the drivers at least six months’ salary if he retrenched them. “It would cost me around R198 000 to lay them off and I have repeatedly brought this to the bargaining council’s attention, but they keep on saying they can’t help me. “The thing is, I don’t really want to let these people go just because they are from other countries. They are good workers, have done nothing wrong and have families to support,” the transporter said of the three drivers who are between the ages of 30 and 50. “But there’s nothing I can do because arsonists are targeting our trucks and they have no fear – we have all the fear.” Bargaining council spokesperson Fikile Mchunu has since said that “the NBCRFLI does not prescribe to employers who they can or cannot employ”. She did though draw FTW’s attention to several clauses of the Main Collective Agreement (MCA).
“It prohibits employers within the industry from knowingly employing an illegal foreigner, a foreigner whose status does not authorise him or her to be employed by such a person, or any cross-border national whose employment in South Africa contravenes labour conditions as contemplated in the Immigration Act.” Mchunu’s statement emphasised that “an employer shall make a good faith effort to ascertain that no illegal foreigner is employed”
and prospective employers must “ascertain the status or citizenship” of their staff. The transporter though claims that government organisations and departments overlook the fact that road hauliers are dangerously compromised by a situation that has spun out of control, forcing them to lay off foreign nationals, even those that comply with all the necessary clauses regulating their employment in South Africa. Mchunu stressed that the
council and the departments of Labour as well as Home Affairs were “conducting joint inspections” to ensure that all employers conformed to the MCA’s clauses. With regard to the dire situation that hauliers face on South African roads, particularly the N3, Mchunu said “the council has been involved in various government meetings and the InterMinisterial Task Team to find a working solution for this challenge”.
I don’t really want to let these people go just because they are from other countries. – Transporter
