South African clothing factories struggle after migrant workers flee

The campaign led by anti-immigrant group March and March sought to free up jobs for South Africans, a third of whom are unemployed. But local manufacturers have struggled to fill vacancies left by foreign workers. Reuters visited three factories in late July whose owners said they had lost between 12% and 19% of their workforce during the protests.

Some workers had sewing skills in short supply, the owners said, while few locals were willing to take the low-paying jobs. Migrants typically work in sectors unappealing to locals, analysts say. It is unclear how widespread current labour shortages may be, but there have also been reports of unfilled jobs in sugarcane fields.

A spokesperson for the Department of Employment and Labour said he was unaware of worker shortages and advised employers to seek the department’s assistance with recruitment. Months of anti-immigrant marches and vigilante attacks culminated in a June 30 deadline declared by March and March for undocumented migrants to leave, prompting many to flee. The group claims immigrants are to blame for South Africa’s economic woes, particularly high unemployment, although researchers dispute this.

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It argues that employers prefer foreigners who accept lower wages. Factory owners counter that they mostly employ South Africans, while some skilled workers from neighbouring Eswatini and Lesotho are needed for their experience in the garment sector. “We can’t immediately replace these skills with locals,” said Alex Liu, a Newcastle factory owner.

Another factory owner, Ronghua Yan, started a training course for seven local employees after losing about 40 foreign workers in June. Financial constraints do not allow him to train more, he said. The Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers’ Union estimates that 15% of Newcastle’s 15 000-strong textile workforce left during the protests. Union representative Siyabonga Ntombela disputed the idea of a skills shortage and said the jobs were not being filled because the pay was too low for South Africans.

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