ActionSA MP Dr Tebogo Letlape, who submitted the question to Buthelezi, wanted to know the total number of foreign nationals who were employed in each department and institution of public service.
Using the government payroll and human resources system, Persal, Buthelezi said there were 6,220 foreign nationals employed across national and provincial departments as of July 31, representing 0.5% of the estimated 1.2 million public servantsboth temporary employ.
The 6,220 employed foreigners included those engaged for specific durations and those who have acquired permanent residency status.
Based on data from the government payroll and HRS system, Persal, Buthelezi reported that, as of July 31, 6,220 foreign nationals were working in national and provincial departments; this accounted for 0.5% of the estimated 1.2 million temporary public servants.
The 6,220 foreign employees included those hired for specific periods of time as well as those who obtained permanent residency status.
In response to Buthelezi’s report, Letlape voiced grave concerns and sought clarification on the selection methods used.
recruitment process.
“We would like to know whether they are permanent residents or whatever issues might be. We also need to be mindful that there are certain areas where we would look for people,” he said in an interview with Newzroom Afrika.
Letlape said owing to the high number of foreigners employed in the health and education sectors they would like to know if South African citizens are unable perform those jobs or not.
“There’s a greater number in health and education. The health is because the country recruits outside where South Africans don’t want to go, in rural areas in particular and in education we have a lot of higher education institutions that had open job searches for seniors positions.
“That’s understandable, but we just need to know what the percentage is and whether these jobs cannot be done by South Africans and the high unemployment rates and we need to ensure that we put many people into jobs.
