The COSATU federation of trade unions has joined Sasbo's opposition to African Bank's plans to cut 1200 jobs and potentially close 90 branches.
These actions followed the bank's announcement that it was considering a reduction process in accordance with Section 189A. The reason cited was the desire to reduce costs after the bank reported a loss of 624 million rand over the six months ending in March 2026.
In a statement released to the media on Friday, COSATU representative Zanelle Sable stated that the federation would support Sasbo's efforts to protect jobs and oppose any dismissals at the bank. She emphasized that the cuts would seriously affect workers and their families, noting that South Africa cannot afford further job losses given the country's high unemployment rate.
Sable added that employees should not bear the burden of what COSATU characterized as flawed strategic decisions by management. She stated that COSATU would make every effort to support Sasbo in preserving all 1200 jobs, as the situation where employees take responsibility for management miscalculations cannot be allowed.
Sable also noted that over the past two years, African Bank had actively acquired other companies, including Ubank, Grindrod Bank, Sasfin Capital Equipment Finance, and Commercial Property Finance. Now, following the half-year loss up to March, it became clear that the acquisition strategy was poorly conceived. The federation intends to continue supporting Sasbo in finding alternative cost-cutting measures. In conclusion, Sable called on the South African Reserve Bank, as the main shareholder, as well as the Department of Employment and Labour, to intervene and prevent the impending disaster.
The introduction of the Employment Changes Bill (B16, 2026) to Parliament on June 1st marks not just an administrative change, but a fundamental intervention in how South African companies staff their personnel.
This bill empowers the Minister of Employment and Labour to establish sectoral, professional, and geographical restrictions on the employment of foreigners through future regulations. Furthermore, it mandates thorough checks on local hiring under threat of severe penalties, thereby moving compliance with immigration legislation from HR departments directly to senior company management.
However, this bold regulatory experiment confronts a harsh economic reality. South Africa faces a documented shortage of over 60,000 engineers, alongside chronic skill gaps in areas such as construction, logistics, and technology. For a long time, foreign specialists served as the operational lifeblood, not merely a preferred recruitment option.
This creates a fundamental contradiction for corporate executives. On one hand, companies face stringent compliance scrutiny if they do not actively localize their workforce. On the other hand, freezing critical foreign appointments when local equivalents are unavailable simply restricts productivity.
The result is a complex balance where the immediate risk of legal prosecution must be weighed against the real risk of commercial stagnation.
The most prudent approach for employers at this time is to begin auditing their workforce for reliance on foreign labor, strengthening hiring documentation, and ensuring the ability to demonstrate that local hiring was duly considered. It is important to note that although the bill has been tabled and is passing through Parliament, it has not yet come into effect.
Nevertheless, businesses should not wait for official publication to start reacting. The intent is clear: increased regulation of foreign labor and heightened compliance obligations. Once passed, implementation timelines may be compressed, especially regarding sectoral quotas and verification processes.
The impact of sectoral quotas will be most noticeable in sectors dependent on critical skills, such as engineering, construction, logistics, agriculture, and technology. The main operational challenge of the new bill is not just the quota itself, but the strict legal requirement to prove that no suitable South African citizen or permanent resident exists before hiring a foreigner.
In practice, this introduces a regulated labour market test. Employers must formalize and document every stage of their hiring process, including advertising reach, candidate vetting, and specific reasons for rejecting local applicants. Employers must ensure, in the prescribed manner, that there is no suitable South African citizen, permanent resident, refugee, or asylum seeker before engaging a foreigner.
Additionally, employers may be required to implement and maintain documented skills transfer plans, guaranteeing the gradual handover of scarce expertise held by foreigners to local employees.
Although the structure of fines is still being legislated, the bill signals a significant shift in corporate risk. The real challenge for businesses lies not only in the scale of financial penalties but also in the substantially expanded inspection powers of the Department of Employment and Labour.
Proposed fines of up to R100,000 for a first offense, which can rise to R1 million or 10% of annual turnover for multiple offenses, represent a massive increase in financial liability. Even under the current system, employers are subject to regular audits and sanctions for non-compliance. This amendment expands the legal scope of inspection and intensifies the financial consequences of violation. Whether control reaches its full potential depends solely on the Department's resource base.
The bill clearly indicates a political intention to strengthen oversight of foreign employment and increase accountability for unscrupulous employers. From a management perspective, companies must assume that compliance monitoring will become a standard operational reality and immediately adjust their human capital strategies.
This is the central contradiction of the bill. On one hand, the policy goal is to prioritize employment for South African citizens, which is understandable and necessary given the unemployment rate. On the other hand, many industries face a real and well-documented shortage of critical skills that cannot be immediately filled from the local talent pool.
Beyond compliance, the bill requires organizations to rethink workforce planning. Employers relying on scarce foreign skills must begin defining succession paths, localization strategies, and skills transfer programs now. Companies capable of demonstrating a genuine commitment to developing local talent may be better prepared to manage future regulatory requirements while maintaining access to critical knowledge.
The ultimate success of the proposed framework will depend on how effectively it can balance localization goals with economic realities. South Africa cannot ignore the unemployment crisis, but it also cannot afford to restrict access to truly scarce skills necessary for growth and infrastructure development. Carefully designed quotas, reasonable exemptions for critical skills, and practical skills transfer requirements can help achieve this balance. The task for employers is to prepare now for a labour market where foreign employment is likely to become significantly more regulated, documented, and scrutinized than ever before.
King Mzuzulu Kazvelatini emphasized the need to strengthen cooperation between African states to address issues of illegal immigration and border management during an important meeting with Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
The meeting, held in Zimbabwe on Friday, was dedicated to strengthening interaction between traditional leadership structures and governments in response to migration challenges arising on the continent. According to information from the King's Office, this event marked an important step in advancing dialogue on issues that are becoming increasingly relevant in South Africa, especially in KwaZulu-Natal, where communities have protested demanding stricter immigration control.
During the negotiations, King Mzuzulu highlighted the importance of African unity, responsible migration, and effective border management. He also noted the potential role of traditional leaders in promoting peace, stability, and cooperation across the continent. The King was accompanied by several traditional leaders, including King Amapondo Ndlovuyezwe Ndamase from the Eastern Cape, underscoring the significance of this meeting and the shared cultural ties in South Africa.
Prior to the meeting, the King's personal secretary, Arnold Ndamase, confirmed that illegal immigration would be one of the key topics of discussion, although specific details of the talks were not disclosed. The leaders also focused on finding a balance between ensuring border security and preserving family, cultural, and historical ties that extend across national borders in the region. The King's Office reported that this meeting reinforced a common commitment to African solutions for overcoming migration difficulties, responsible management, and joint efforts to solve regional development problems.
The meeting took place amid ongoing discussions about immigration in South Africa, as various organizations and community groups in KwaZulu-Natal intensified calls for the deportation of illegally present foreigners. The King's engagement with President Mnangagwa also demonstrated the growing role of traditional leaders in regional diplomacy and in discussions aimed at resolving cross-border issues affecting communities across South Africa.
After the end of apartheid in 1994, South Africa made significant efforts to build a reputation as a model continental citizen. To compensate for past apartheid mistakes and express gratitude for the support of African nations during the fight against apartheid, post-apartheid South Africa actively sought the support of its neighbors.
The country firmly declared its African identity and became one of the most active proponents of Pan-Africanist ideals. Over the last 32 years, South Africa has participated in peacekeeping and conflict resolution missions in countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Burundi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Madagascar, utilizing significant domestic resources.
South Africa is one of the few countries on the continent to have established the African Renaissance Fund (ARF) in 2001. Since its inception, approximately 3 billion rand has been directed towards humanitarian aid, social welfare, nation-building, and peacekeeping projects in various African states.
In the early 21st century, South Africa played a crucial role in shaping the new architecture of continental governance, embodied by the establishment of the African Union (AU), which replaced the Organization of African Unity (OAU). The AU and related structures, such as the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), the Pan-African Parliament (PAP), and the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), were central to the concept of African renaissance promoted by former South African President Thabo Mbeki.
In its pursuit to demonstrate its Pan-African qualities, South Africa eased conditions for legal or other residency for immigrants from other African countries fleeing wars, conflicts, and poverty. Currently, the country hosts about 3.2 million international immigrants, approximately 90 percent of whom are from the continent. The country's investments in improving its continental reputation over the last three decades have yielded tangible results.
South Africa's trade turnover with the African continent grew from 11 billion rand in 1994 to 759 billion rand in 2024, achieving a significant trade surplus of 379 billion rand. This indicates success in accessing increasingly profitable African markets. South Africa is the largest source of intra-African foreign direct investment and the sixth-largest source of FDI for all of Africa, with an FDI volume exceeding $32 billion across about 40 African countries.
No other African country can compare with South Africa's economic influence on the continent. Its Development Finance Institutions (DFIs), such as the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), have secured major contracts for infrastructure and industrial projects across the continent, fostering regional integration and the formation of regional supply chains.
Furthermore, South Africa is the most popular destination for intra-African tourism. Between 2000 and 2024, the country registered an average of nearly 6 million arrivals of African tourists, accounting for about 80 percent of the total number of tourists. According to the Department of Tourism, African tourists spent an average of 36 billion rand annually between 2015 and 2024, highlighting their vital role in sustaining tens of thousands of jobs in the tourism and hospitality sectors.
By all accounts, over the last three decades, South Africa has managed to build favorable economic relations with the rest of Africa. However, the current wave of anti-immigrant protests, considered the most intense and widespread recently, threatens to undermine the diplomatic capital South Africa has gained and weaken its economic standing on the continent.
Groups leading the protests—March and Operation Dudula—claim that immigrants are responsible for high crime rates in the country, displacing South Africans from the labor market, and competing for limited resources such as healthcare and education. The protests have led some African countries, including Lesotho, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Nigeria, and Ghana, to repatriate thousands of their citizens residing in South Africa following threats of violence.
Uganda is also preparing to repatriate its citizens, who, according to it, are under threat of xenophobic attacks. Hundreds of immigrants from Congo, Malawi, and Zimbabwe have been forced to seek shelter in open and overcrowded areas while awaiting repatriation. The fact that immigrants from other African countries, including children, are forced to live in open, inhumane conditions because some citizens are expelling them from their communities negatively affects South Africa's image on the continent.
The South African government has shown a greater willingness to assist with the repatriation of immigrants to their home countries than to stop their expulsion from communities. The treatment of African immigrants, who constitute 90 percent of the 3.2 million immigrants in South Africa, has provoked unprecedented diplomatic resonance, with the governments of Nigeria and Ghana openly criticizing the South African government's approach to the protests.
Nigeria's Foreign Minister, Bianca Ojukwu, characterized the actions of the anti-immigrant groups as Afrophobia, given that Black immigrants were disproportionately at risk. Ghana's Foreign Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, even sent an official letter to the African Union requesting that South Africa be included in the agenda of the Mid-Year Coordination Meeting held on June 24. In the letter, he expressed regret that 'targeting citizens of African countries poses a challenge to the common principles of African solidarity, brotherhood, and continental unity.' While this may have been somewhat dramatic, considering that Ghana's request to the AU was unsuccessful, it could reflect a changing perception of South Africa among African nations.
These unpleasant events will complicate South Africa's efforts in economic diplomacy on the continent, especially as the country aims to increase exports to the continent from 569 billion rand to 1.1 trillion rand by 2030. The Department of Tourism has also set a goal of reaching 15 million African tourist arrivals by 2030. Achieving these goals in the current diplomatic climate will be a difficult task, as economic cooperation does not happen in a vacuum.
The situation also jeopardizes South Africa's unofficial status as a regional leader, which has opened many doors for it globally, allowing the country access to influential global platforms such as BRICS and the G20 due to its perceived role as an African representative. If these protests are not carefully managed, they could do more harm to South Africa's image in Africa than good.
