South African govt to limit job opportunities for Nigerians, others

Nigeria and other nationals will now have a job quota in South Africa, as the government of the Southern country has decided to limit job opportunities amid rising unemployment.

South African government is looking to curb the rise in unemployment among its citizens, and one of the solutions proffered was to cut down on work made available for foreigners.

Prior to this report made public on Tuesday, South Africans had accused Nigerians and citizens of other African countries of coming to their territory to take their jobs.

This led to renewed xenophobia attacks on Africans in 2019, leading to the burning of businesses owned by black foreigners in the country. This caused a reprisal attack on South African establishments in Nigeria.

In a recent response to the clamour of South Africans, the country’s Home Affairs minister, Aaron Motsoaledi, said the government would limit the percentage of other Africans that can gain employment in South African-owned businesses through law.

Motsoaledi told Bloomberg that the proposed law was in line with its draft on immigration and refugees, which was being reviewed by the government.

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He said, “If you are a South African business person who opens a restaurant or a factory, there is no law that tells you what to do, you can bring 100% foreign nationals or 100% South Africans,”

However, Motsoaledi explained that, “We are saying there is an issue with unemployment and the absence of those quotas,” adding that COVID-19 has worsened the job situation.

“These are issues that have been raised and have been raised sharply now obviously because unemployment is getting worse and worse, and also because Covid worsened these challenges.” Motsoaledi said.

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