A Department of Employment and Labour's Inspection and Enforcement Services (IES) semester one report has found that out of a total of 168, 766 workplaces inspected there were 231, 850 foreign nationals employed as at end of quarter two of 2026/27.

According to the Department's IES branch Inspector General, Aggy Moiloa this was unfortunate because most of these were entry level jobs, that could easily have been easily occupied by South Africans.

Of the workplaces inspected 21, 371 were found to be employing foreign nationals. On the other hand, Gauteng with 59, 624 had the highest number of foreign nationals employed at those workplaces. It is followed by North West (58, 533); Western Cape (34, 675); Limpopo (24, 972); Eastern Cape (20,385); KwaZulu-Natal (13, 295); Mpumalanga (11, 560); Free State (5, 173); Northern Cape (3, 571); Head Office (62).

According to the IG, Agriculture had the most foreign nationals employing 46, 533 foreigners across 1, 205 employers, while Wholesale & Retail followed with 41, 359 across 6, 698 employers.

Other sectors that complete the top 10 include Community, Manufacturing, Hospitality, Construction, Mining, Private Security, Financial Services and Education.

 Moiloa was addressing a Department's Public Employment Services (PES) branch 2026 Strategic Planning conference on the topic of “Enforcement of the Employment Services Act as Amended: areas of collaboration and expectations from PES".

She said the PES branch and IES need to collaborate and strengthen partnership, “enforcement depends on capacity on both sides". Moiloa said the IES was also banking on Project 10 000 to recruit new inspectors to strengthen enforcement.

Moiloa was speaking during the PES 2026 National Strategic Planning conference held at the Anew Hotel, Hunters Rest in Rustenburg, North West Province

For media inquiries, please contact:

Teboho Thejane

Departmental Spokesperson

082 697 0694/ teboho.thejane@labour.gov.za

-ENDS-

Issued by: Department of Employment and Labour

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