R100,000 fine warning for anyone employing a domestic worker without legal work status in South Africa. Recently gazetted laws will hit employers hiring undocumented foreign workers with a R100,000 fine for first offenders, including private households. This penalty can escalate to R1 million or jail time for repeat offences.

However, migration experts urge caution. Professor Jo Vearey (African Centre for Migration & Society) told CapeTalk:

• Domestic work remains a critical source of income for both South Africans and foreign nationals.
• Not all foreign nationals working in SA are undocumented, holders of Zimbabwean and Lesotho exemption permits are legally entitled to work.
• “Data doesn’t suggest that foreign nationals are replacing or displacing South African citizens from the labour market.”
• Many migrants accept difficult, exploitative conditions because they have moved in search of better opportunities.

Vearey also criticised SA’s increasingly restrictive immigration system, which makes it difficult for lower-paid workers to regularise their status. Employers have a responsibility to help regularise foreign domestic workers, not simply avoid fines.

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