Four undocumented workers alongside a human resource manager have been arrested during the labour and home affairs blitz inspections at Tang restaurant at the Nelson Mandela Square in Sandton, Johannesburg.
The raid comes after a video by a disgruntled Babel former employee expressing her dissatisfaction over her employer’s treatment and alleging that the restaurant is violating the Labour Relations Act.
Following the video, the South African Police Service (SAPS) together with officials from home affairs and the department of labour have been conducting raids in restaurants across Gauteng.
On Wednesday, the team went to Sandton where they raided over six establishments.
“We found four workers in Tang restaurant without documentation and they were taken into custody by home affairs and SAPS,” said Gauteng chief inspector, Michael Msiza.
Msiza explained that the HR manager was apprehended because he’s a representative of the employer who will also be arrested.
He added that at Second Story restaurant, also in Sandton, they found a waiter from Zimbabwe whose ID might not be valid. He said the matter would be investigated by home affairs.
Msiza said they also discovered that the restaurants were exploiting employees and not paying them the minimum wage as stipulated by the law.
“They only paid them on tips and commissions. In one of the restaurants there were 31 employees, 17 foreign nationals and 14 South Africans and they all didn’t have a basic salary,” he said.
In Menlyn, Pretoria, Ocean Basket, also faced scrutiny after the department of labour claimed that the seafood eatery owes R813,000 to staff in unpaid wages.
However, Ocean Basket chief executive officer Grace Harding told IOL their house was in order, that they were compliant in terms of the national minimum wage, their staff was legally documented and that they were making the necessary payments to staff and to the Unemployment Insurance Fund, for their benefits.
Harding said they had conducted their investigation using an independent labour lawyer, and internal auditors, while they also had sworn affidavits from staff confessing to receiving their wages.
“No money is currently owed to any staff members,” Harding said. “We can find no evidence to substantiate those claims.”
sinenhlanhla.masilela@iol.co.za
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