Foreign firms urge SA to ease laws

JOHANNESBURG – Three major immigration consultant groups have said that they are soliciting help from foreign chambers to push South Africa to ease work permit rules they say hamper investment.

South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs has been widely criticised for its failure to deal with work permit applications, locking out workers with much-needed skills and undermining the country’s drive to create jobs and boost growth. Accounting firms PricewaterhouseCoopers, KPMG and Deloitte said they were circulating a letter among foreign business chambers to be sent to ministers outside Home Affairs, calling for a relaxation of rules governing work permits.”We’re taking the matter further, we can’t have the president and deputy asking companies to bring investments into the country while they are not able to keep their staff,” said Lino De Ponte, head of Deloitte’s immigration section.”I know four international banks which cannot send their chief executives to South Africa and an oil company that is not sure if it should be headquartered here because it cannot keep its staff in the country,” he told Reuters.Top officials – including Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo Ngcuka – have highlighted a gaping skills shortage as one of the main obstacles to faster growth in Africa’s biggest economy, which would help reduce a jobless rate of 26 per cent.Last month she unveiled a broad skills acquisition programme which involves urging retired professionals to go back to work, encouraging emigres to return and recruiting of foreigners with priority skills.South Africa revised its immigration laws last July in an attempt to streamline existing rules, but the step also removed exemptions under which skilled foreigners work in the country.- Nampa-ReutersAccounting firms PricewaterhouseCoopers, KPMG and Deloitte said they were circulating a letter among foreign business chambers to be sent to ministers outside Home Affairs, calling for a relaxation of rules governing work permits.”We’re taking the matter further, we can’t have the president and deputy asking companies to bring investments into the country while they are not able to keep their staff,” said Lino De Ponte, head of Deloitte’s immigration section.”I know four international banks which cannot send their chief executives to South Africa and an oil company that is not sure if it should be headquartered here because it cannot keep its staff in the country,” he told Reuters.Top officials – including Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo Ngcuka – have highlighted a gaping skills shortage as one of the main obstacles to faster growth in Africa’s biggest economy, which would help reduce a jobless rate of 26 per cent.Last month she unveiled a broad skills acquisition programme which involves urging retired professionals to go back to work, encouraging emigres to return and recruiting of foreigners with priority skills.South Africa revised its immigration laws last July in an attempt to streamline existing rules, but the step also removed exemptions under which skilled foreigners work in the country.- Nampa-Reuters