South Africa February 2006 |
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| Confusion on release of quotas, (Business Report, 2006-02-14):-Confusion yesterday surrounded the long-awaited release of new limits on quota work permits but business nevertheless welcomed the fact that, "after two years rearranging the deck chairs" on this key issue, some progress was being made. Business Unity SA (Busa) said that despite home affairs minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and public service and administration minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi having told a media briefing last week that the quotas for work permits for special categories of skilled people in short supply would be gazetted by the end of the week, it could not confirm that this had happened. But Business Report has a copy of the Government Gazette, dated February 8, which lists the professions in which qualified foreigners can get permits to seek work in South Africa. Busa said it had been told yesterday that the government printer had "as yet no instructions to publish the notice of quotas. We have not yet seen the notice ourselves, so some confusion is apparent." In addition, an application was due to be heard in the high court later this month over enforcing the publication of quotas by the minister of home affairs after more than a year's delay. "It would have been nice if Busa had been consulted on the establishment and statistical basis for skilled quota levels, but this did not occur," the business lobby group said. "That there is a huge shortage of skills is not in dispute and it is very clear that this retards business growth and a potential gross domestic product growth of 6 percent a year. So we are glad, after two years rearranging the deck chairs, that something has happened and at least there is an opportunity to bring in experts or needed skills under a quota process." Busa was not, however, able to make "definitive comments on the categories and the figures for the quota because we have not been able to interrogate them and have no idea of their origin, since we were not involved in their development". The figures should have been debated by the Immigration Advisory Board (IAB), "but no discussion took place in the IAB and no information was given to the IAB members before the dissolution of the board on December 31". Under the previous immigration regime, the department of home affairs - following consultation with the departments of labour and trade and industry - had provided for a total of 740 000 skilled immigrants needed in South Africa, Busa said. "Other authorities have quoted needs of over 500 000 as well, quite apart from those we can train in the country. In comparison, the present quotas are only a handful, and reasons need to be sought for the discrepancies in numbers." What was clear was that "we need to debate these figures and allow for a pragmatic process of quick facilitation for needed skills not on the list or where the quota proves inadequate". "As quotas must be published annually, there is a clear need for an established procedure and, in this regard, Busa has serious concerns as to how statistics are to be collected and extrapolated into future needs with any measure of reliability." Quota permits contained relatively simplified conditions for issue, unlike the "onerous requirements" of the general work permit, although police clearances, all dated within six months of each other, from every country in which the applicant had stayed, could prove impossible. Certification of qualifications through the SA Qualifications Authority could also prove exhaustive, ineffective and subject to extensive delays. | |
South African Migration Project (SAMP) - Queen's University - http://www.queensu.ca/samp |