90% of Huawei SA's staff are foreigners - govt wants to send 'strong message'

• Immigration Regulations allowed Huawei to employ 60% South Africans and 40% foreign nationals.
• Instead, 90% of its staff are foreign nationals.
• The department of labour is taking legal action against Huawei, and says it wants to send a "strong message".

The local unit of the Chinese technology group, Huawei, is 90% staffed by foreign nationals, prompting the Department of Labour to take it to court for non-compliance with employment equity policies, in a case that is meant to "send a strong message" to transgressors.

The department said on Friday that an audit in 2020 found that only 10% of Huawei’s staff were South African. In response, Huawei said that the department of home affairs granted it permission to employ the number of foreign nationals that they did.

But a subsequent investigation revealed that Huawei was granted a permit, in accordance with the provisions of the Immigration Regulations, that required it to employ 60% South Africans and 40% foreign nationals, the department of labour said in a statement.

• READ | South Africa sues Huawei over foreign employee quota

A Department of Labour inspection showed that:

• All five of Huawei’s top management team are foreign nationals. Huawei does plan not to employ any new top managers from designated groups in the next two years. Designated groups are black, coloured and Indian South Africans, as well as woman of all races, and people with disabilities.

• At senior management level, out of a total of 71 employees, 27 (38%) are foreign nationals, and Huawei is projecting to increase this number.

• At the professionally qualified level, out of a total of 435 employees, 378 (87%) are foreign nationals. Huawei projects to increase the number to 405 in the next two years, but does not project increase appointments among designated groups.

• At the skilled technical level, 138 (76%) of Huawei's 181 employees are foreign nationals, with Huawei projecting an increase to 168 in the next two years.

• At the semi-skilled level, there is currently only one employee, who is a foreign national, with Huawei projecting an increase to 11 in the next two years without any designated group being employed.

The department said it wants to "send a strong message to other employers who do not comply with employment equity policies" that there will be consequences for non-compliance.

Huawei - which is a top supplier of consumer, enterprise and cloud services to a range of sectors - said it wants to engage with the department on its equity plan.

"Huawei is committed to complying with local laws and regulations," it said in a statement without giving further details.

The Employment Equity Policy is part of a set of regulations aimed at promoting the empowerment of designated population groups.