PRETORIA, Gauteng – A historic nationwide labour blitz has uncovered severe worker exploitation at a Tshwane textile factory, revealing a disturbing pattern of wage theft, illegal lock-ins, and immigration breaches. As part of the government’s first-ever coordinated multi-provincial enforcement sweep, authorities moved decisively against Korteks Textiles Africa (Pty) Ltd, leading to the arrest of the company’s director and eight illegal foreign nationals.
Unprecedented Multi-Agency Enforcement
The targeted inspections were executed simultaneously across all nine provinces on Friday. The operation was spearheaded by the Departments of Employment and Labour and Home Affairs, working in tandem with the South African Police Service (SAPS) and additional enforcement agencies. Deputy Ministers Jomo Sibiya and Njabulo Nzuza personally led the high-profile intervention to enforce statutory compliance.
A “Litany of Challenges” for Workers
During the raid, Deputy Minister of Employment and Labour Jomo Sibiya highlighted the sheer scale of the regulatory failures at the facility.
“What we have found here is that this company… is literally not complying with a number of our labour and immigration laws,” Sibiya stated.
Inspectors documented a comprehensive list of violations. Employees were being paid R28 per hour, deliberately undercutting the national minimum wage of R30.23 per hour. Furthermore, staff were routinely forced to work beyond their scheduled 12-hour shifts without receiving any overtime compensation.
Basic workplace safeguards were entirely absent. Investigators found that numerous workers lacked formal employment contracts, were not registered with the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) or the Compensation Fund, and were denied essential personal protective equipment (PPE).
In one of the most alarming discoveries, workers reported being physically locked inside the factory premises from 6:00 PM until 7:00 AM during night shifts. Additionally, instead of receiving their法定 annual leave, employees were only granted a single week of shutdown during December.
“It’s a litany of challenges and undermining a number of our laws that we have observed in this company, and we are going to make sure that there is change,” Sibiya affirmed.
Commitment to Wage Restitution
Addressing the financial exploitation, Sibiya confirmed that the Department of Employment and Labour is initiating processes to recover stolen wages for the affected staff.
“We are going to calculate how much they owe workers. We are going to go back and make sure that they are paid whatever that they are owed,” he explained, reiterating that the employment of undocumented foreign nationals constitutes a strict criminal offence.
Cracking Down on Illegal Migrant Labour Demand
The director of Korteks Textiles Africa reportedly attempted to justify the hiring practices, claiming that some undocumented employees were permitted to work while their documentation was being processed. Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Njabulo Nzuza swiftly dismissed this defense.
Nzuza emphasized that holding employers accountable is a vital strategy in disrupting the networks that facilitate illegal migration.
“The issue here is that we are cutting the demand for illegal migrant labour. That will deal with our problem of the influx of illegal people because they are guaranteed a job, even though they are illegal,” Nzuza explained.
A New Standard for Workplace Compliance
This joint operation represents a significant escalation in the government’s approach to labour rights. By deploying multidisciplinary teams across all nine provinces simultaneously, the blitz aims to rigorously enforce labour, immigration, and related legislation, ensuring a safer, fairer environment for workers nationwide.
