A Mugg & Bean in Northgate, Johannesburg, has emerged as the biggest offender during a four-day series of raids on restaurants around the country this week.
And the province with the highest percentage of transgressions was Gauteng, followed by Mpumalanga and then the Western Cape.
This is according to Aggy Moiloa, the inspector-general of the department of employment and labour, who led this week's raids. The department partnered with home affairs and the Hawks.
She told the Sunday Times on Saturday that the Northgate Mugg & Bean had “broken every law”. This included regulations that govern occupational health and safety, unemployment insurance, compensation for occupational injuries and diseases, basic conditions of employment and the national minimum wage.
Four undocumented foreign nationals working at the outlet were arrested.
The restaurant's national office responded to Sunday Times, saying they would be investigating the Mugg & Bean franchisees that are allegedly breaking labour laws.
“We can confirm that we are busy conducting a full labour audit to determine the facts. We have requested copies of all relevant documentation on his return,” it said.
“We reaffirm our commitment to upholding the highest standards of compliance and ethics within our franchise network and have instructed our legal team to take the necessary sanctions against the franchisee at Mugg & Bean Northgate for the breach of the Franchise Agreement.
“We will continue to work diligently to ensure that all our franchisees adhere to the laws and regulations governing employment practices.”
In total, 2,163 raids were conducted across every province except the Northern Cape.
In Limpopo, a 14-year-old Malawian was found working as a waitress in one of the raided restaurants, Moiloa said.
In Gauteng, more than 750 facilities, mainly restaurants, were raided between Tuesday and Friday, with 72% found to be flouting labour laws.
In Mpumalanga, 55% of 59 raided facilities were found to be not fully compliant, as were 43% of 809 outlets in the Western Cape and 40% of 82 in the Eastern Cape.
It's very common that when we get to a restaurant, people take off and run away
— Aggy Moiloa, inspector-general of the department of employment and labour
The rates of noncompliance in other provinces were:
- KwaZulu-Natal: 33% of 57 outlets raided;
- the North West: 27% of 217;
- Limpopo: 21% of 106; and
- the Free State: 32% of 57.
The department launched the raids after a video was circulated on TikTok by a former waitress at Menlyn Park's Babel restaurant in Pretoria, who claimed the restaurant was violating labour laws.
Moiloa said other serious transgressors were Second Story in Sandton City, where three undocumented foreign nationals were arrested, and Babel.
All three outlets failed to comply with any of the regulations as they had no first aiders, could not produce a certificate for gas installation and had not done risk assessment in terms of the Occupational Health and Safety Act. They had no suitable PPE for workers and emergency exits had been obstructed. Employees were underpaid, were not registered for unemployment insurance and had no employment contracts.
“They violated the Immigration Act by employing undocumented foreign nationals... Waiters and waitresses were paid with tips and had no basic salary,” Moiloa said.
A manager at Second Story, who introduced himself as Hein, said they would not comment. “Whatever they [the department] have compiled is from their side. We will not be commenting.”
A manager at Mugg & Bean Northgate, who identified herself on the phone as Louise, said on Saturday the store could not speak to the media about the matter and referred the Sunday Times to Famous Brands' head office.
On Thursday, at another Mugg & Bean outlet in Pretoria, a ceiling collapsed after two undocumented foreign nationals working there as waiters hid in the roof to avoid inspectors.
“It's very common that when we get to a restaurant, people take off and run away,” Moiloa said.
A manager of Babel paid a R10,000 admission of guilt fine, while the three undocumented nationals who were arrested with him during a raid remained behind bars this week.
Moiloa said some of the employees at the raided restaurants , especially locals, were not happy with the raids.
“It was mainly local waiters and waitresses. One of them said to me: 'You're ruining things for us — if you close the restaurant that's going to hit my monthly budget as I won't be making much'.”
Moiloa said although they discovered high levels of noncompliance, they had learnt that some restaurants gave foreign nationals in their employ leave this week in anticipation of being raided.
“Some were told not to come to work because we had announced that we would be intensifying raids in the hospitality industry.”
Moiloa, who has been with the department for more than two decades, said Zimbabweans were the most widely exploited.
“They do not speak up, they don't fight and they just accept what they are told [by the employer].”
What people need to know is that our findings are not allegations. It is a compliance issue that is explained to the person receiving the notice, and we also ensure that they understand
— Aggy Moiloa
She said 600 foreign nationals were found to have been exploited during the week's raids. They did not have basic salaries and were only paid on commission. Twenty-five of them were undocumented.
She said the employment of undocumented foreign nationals seemed to be a deliberate move by owners and managers who wanted cheap labour.
Moiloa said a factor in Gauteng having such high numbers of undocumented Zimbabweans could be that most who crossed the border to look for work ended up in the country's urban centres.
She said about 90% of the restaurants raided, “including some of the top ones”, did not have employment contracts with their employees, meaning many of them did not have basic salaries.
“What people need to know is that our findings are not allegations. It is a compliance issue that is explained to the person receiving the notice, and we also ensure that they understand.”
She dismissed media statements released by raided restaurants such as Ocean Basket and Tang in Sandton, which disputed some of the findings announced by the department.
Moiloa said their inspections had “huge ramifications for unemployment in the country”. She estimates that there are probably hundreds of thousands of undocumented foreigners employed in the industry, whose jobs could be available to locals.
“Just by sustaining our operations, there's no telling how many jobs we can create for nationals. That's why we say what we are doing now has to be sustainable.”
Moiloa said in the last five years, her department had conducted around 1.3-million raids and had the capacity to sustain operations.
Asked why action was sparked by a viral social media post, Moiloa said their “approach is both proactive and reactive. Being reactive is not bad but we shouldn't be 100% reactive and there's nothing wrong with utilising social media to our advantage.”
She said they had conducted almost 310,000 inspections in the last financial year, with a special focus on vulnerable sectors.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.