South Africa takes Huawei's local unit to court over employment rule breaches

11th February 2022

By: Reuters

  

Font size: - +

South Africa's labour department said it had filed court papers against telecom equipment group Huawei Technologies' local business over alleged employment rule breaches.

China's Huawei employed approximately 90% foreign nationals against 40% as permitted by regulations, the South African department said in a statement on Friday.

The spokesperson for Huawei's South Africa business said the company would respond soon.

The labour department said that Huawei was granted a permit in accordance with the provisions of the Immigration Regulations that required the company to employ 60% South Africans and 40% foreign nationals, but it had been employing far above that number and had plans to further increase it.

"The Department has determined that its cause of action is clear and that all transgressions have been committed," it said.

The move is the first time the South African government has made a legal challenge against the Chinese tech giant.

However, the labour department had previously cracked down on a smaller Chinese firm over charges of poor working conditions and human trafficking at its factory in Johannesburg. That case was still in court.

Edited by Reuters

Comments

The content you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.

If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.

If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.

For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION