JOHANNESBURG - A total of 354 people has been arrested and 123 cases enrolled in court following multidisciplinary operations across the country.
These operations targeted fraudulent documentation, labour exploitation, human trafficking networks, illegal mining and other forms of organised crime linked to migration vulnerabilities.
This was revealed by Inter-Ministerial Committee chairperson Mmamoloko Kubayi, as she provided an update on the government's handling of the migration issue on Tuesday.
According to Kubayi, the operations have also seen more than 350,000 inspections carried out across the country.
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These inspections have, she said, targeted a range of industries, including factories, supermarkets, and spaza shops.
She said many of these were found to be non-compliant with labour- and health-related standards and legal prescripts, especially the employment of illegal immigrants.
“We are continuing with this important work and once again would like to warn employers to respect the laws of the country and desist from deliberately employing illegal immigrants in their firms and factories,”
Kubayi said they have redeployed experienced officials for these operations, adding to the department's commitment to what Kubayi called a ‘zero-tolerance approach to criminality irrespective of nationality’