Home countries of migrant labourers are not accepting and acknowledging their responsibility for their citizens


By Department of Employment and Labour

The Department of Employment and Labour’s Chief Director of International Relations, Sipho Ndebele, yesterday (05 October 2022) told the attendees of the South Africa’s Tripartite Dialogue on Labour and Mixed Migration Governance, that the key issue is the lack of responsibility from home countries of migrant labourers who come to South Africa. 

Ndebele was delivering a presentation during the dialogue on South Africa’s experiences on Bilateral Labour Migration Agreements that were previously in place and those that are currently in place with some of the country’s SADC regional counterparts. 

The dialogue on Labour and Mixed Migration Governance, under the framework of the Southern Africa Migration Management (SAMM) project - started on 04 October and is scheduled to end today (06 October 2022).

The South Africa’s Tripartite Dialogue on Labour and Mixed Migration Governance has been attended by representatives of the United Nation agencies such as the International Labour Organization (ILO), the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Ndebele said South Africa has attempted several times to develop a formal Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with some of the continent’s regional countries in the context of labour migration, however, "it sometimes become an issue of interest or political will from the other party".

"And we have always said as South Africa when we deal with this matter, the key issue is responsibility, home countries or sending countries do not want to acknowledge and accept the responsibility of their citizens," said Ndebele. 

In terms of South Africa’s National Labour Migration Policy, Ndebele said, the Department wants to make an assurance that South Africa’s approach is going to be human centred and ensuring that migrants are taken care of properly. 

"Our approach is that we need to consolidate our MoUs with every member state in SADC, so that it’s easier and common so we can manage the issue of labour migration.

"Hence, I was raising a question of responsibility because in our MoUs, one of the emphases is also that the sending party must be actively available if there are issues that we need to deal with so that we are able to properly manage the process," said Ndebele.

He said some of the issues with member of states are concerning the portability of social security for their migrant workers who had been working in South Africa.

The Department of Employment and Labour’s Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) Commissioner, Teboho Maruping, also made a presentation on the social protection of migrant workers and the implementation of the SADC Guidelines on Portability of social security benefits.

Maruping said despite the inclusion of contributing foreign nationals in the national legislation, the following remain as some of the serious challenges for South Africa and foreign migrant labourers:

 

  • Credibility of identification 
  • Challenges with authentication of provided identification. Integration of identification systems or intercountry collaboration required to enable authentication.
 
  • Dealing with Dependant benefits is complicated as claimants’ credential are difficult to authenticate
 
  • Conflict between the right to have access to social security versus compliance with immigration laws
 
  • Employers not complying with laws or conditions relating to the employment of foreign nationals not bothered by the exclusion of foreign nationals from social insurance
 

 The objectives of the Tripartite Dialogue on Labour and Mixed Migration Governance are:

• To take stock and learn about ongoing finalization and implementation of South Africa’s labour migration policy; 

• Identify together 2022-2023 challenges and opportunities in implementing the policy as well as further priorities that the SAMM (Southern Africa Migration Management) project could support to fast track its implementation; and lastly,

• Identify national focal points responsible for each of the thematic areas covered by the SAMM project in order to facilitate follow-up.

Article Tags

Migrant workers

Responsibility

Acoountability

South Africa

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