Steel manufacturing company faces scrutiny over alleged undocumented workers and safety breaches - IOL

Employment and Labour Department, Home Affairs, police and the City of Ekurhuleni officials on a joint compliance inspection at Africa Steel and Tube in Ekurhuleni, where authorities uncovered alleged labour and workplace safety violations.

An alleged leak of information about an unannounced government inspection is under scrutiny after more than 100 suspected undocumented foreign nationals allegedly failed to report for work at Africa Steel and Tube in Ekurhuleni on Tuesday.

Employment and Labour Deputy Minister Jomo Sibiya said officials had received information that the workers were at the steel manufacturing company a day before the inspection, but they were allegedly instructed not to report for duty after word of the operation got out.

“The information that we were coming to them was leaked. That is a big problem,” Sibiya said.

Authorities would return to the company, including during its night shift, as part of efforts to verify the information.

“It’s not going to end just like that. We are very worried that amongst us there are those who are leaking information,” Sibiya said.

The inspection formed part of a high-impact joint compliance operation involving the departments of Employment and Labour and Home Affairs, police and the City of Ekurhuleni.

Sibiya said employees interviewed during the inspection confirmed that a large number of foreign nationals had worked at the company the previous day.

“They were here yesterday. They spoke to the other employees. They’ve told us straight that yes, they were here and today they were told not to come to work,” he said.

While earlier information suggested the number could be about 200, Sibiya later said officials had verified that more than 100 people had allegedly been absent.

He warned that employers found deliberately employing undocumented foreign nationals would also face action.

“We are not going to allow them to do this. It’s like abetting and evading justice and assisting the illegal foreign immigrants, which is a crime. We are going to be dealing with that,” Sibiya said.

Deputy Home Affairs Minister Njabulo Nzuza said the operation was not only aimed at undocumented foreign nationals, but also at employers who created demand for undocumented labour.

“The main issue here is that we are cutting the demand for illegal labour, because if there is demand there will always be supply,” Nzuza said.

“We have to go and work and do our verification and make sure that we enforce the law and that there are consequences to the employer if they are employing illegal people.”

Africa Steel and Tube, a steel manufacturing company in Ekurhuleni, came under scrutiny during an unannounced joint compliance inspection over alleged labour, immigration and workplace safety violations.

The inspection also uncovered alleged labour and occupational safety violations at Africa Steel and Tube.

Sibiya said inspectors were concerned over overtime and weekend payments, including workers allegedly being underpaid for work performed on Saturdays and Sundays.

“We found that they are not paying people overtime in a manner that we are expecting, the minimum wage as well,” he said.

“They are underpaying them for their Sundays and Saturdays. That’s a huge problem for us because if you don’t pay employees what is due to them, we are destroying those employees. It’s an exploitation that we don’t want to see.”

Officials also halted the use of some equipment over safety concerns.

“Their crane is damaged. They are not going to use the crane until it’s fixed and they are not going to use forklifts because their forklift operators are not trained. They are not licensed,” Sibiya said.

Inspectors had also identified concerns relating to the company’s electrical installation compliance.

Ekurhuleni Executive Mayor Nkosindiphile Xhakaza said Africa Steel and Tube owed the municipality about R3 million for electricity, but had entered into a payment arrangement.

He said businesses needed to maintain regular payments to prevent municipal debts from escalating.

“What we need from companies is that they must pay for their services. And we must actually ensure that we get them to a culture of payment that must be sustained,” Xhakaza said.

The municipality was also checking businesses for compliance with zoning, land-use, building-control and by-law requirements as part of the joint operation.