Central SA
Bfn manager arrested alongside foreign national─── LUCKY NKUYANE 06:32 Thu, 22 Oct 2020
A site manager and undocumented foreign national were arrested by the Home Affairs Immigration Services at a construction site in Heidedal in Bloemfontein on Wednesday.
According to Free State Labour Department spokesperson, Cebisa Siyobi, the two were nabbed following a site visit for inspection by the department’s officials.
The manager, who is also a foreign national, was arrested for contravening the Immigration Act by employing an undocumented foreign national. The two were allegedly employed by a sub-contractor specialising in road construction, under the controversial multimillion-rand Mangaung Metro Municipal's Integrated Public Transport Network (IPTN) Hauweng project.
Meanwhile, Democratic Alliance (DA) councillor for Ward 47, Mokgadi Kganakga, who laid a complaint with the labour department, says she is disappointed with contractors for not employing South Africans on the IPTN site.
The Mangaung Metro is yet to comment.
It's unclear if the two will appear in a South African court or whether the immigration services will deport them to their native country.
Mokgadi says she is more disappointed that the contractor did not make sure that the foreign nationals on site had the correct paperwork.
“As the custodian of Ward 47 in Mangaung, it is my duty to report any activity that might seem illegal, a project in any municipality are funded by the taxpayers of South Africa and thus are for the benefit of South Africans first. The worst is that Managung’s IPTN department found nothing wrong with these appointments,” Kganakga adds.
Siyobi further adds that the Department assisted the subcontracting company with UIF and Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Disease (COID) registration on site.
OFM News previously reported on several incidents which involved the project. These included residents voicing their unhappiness with some of the subcontractors and main contractors appointed in the road project.
In August 2019, irate Heidedal residents shut down the bus depot in the area in a protest against the project.
Foko Motlatsi Phillimon (FMP) Contractors also took the IPTN project matter to the Bloemfontein High Court arguing that the entire tender process was flawed.
OFM News
