Since South Africa was declared a democratic country, the number of refugees fleeing to South Africa has increased. While it is understandable that refugees would flee to a country with a Constitution that protects the rights of everyone within its territory, this influx of refugees and migrants also puts a strain on the South African economy. One of the main problems associated with refugees and migrants in this country is their illegal status. Failure to obtain legal status in the country can be attributed to their own negligence to attend to the Refugee Reception Office, upon their arrival in the country. On the other hand, the South African government also fails foreigners in that the service provided at the Refugee Reception Offices is not up to the standard promised in the legislation. A further problem associated with refugees and migrants in the country is that they are competing with South Africans for jobs that are already scarce in the country. A foreigners need to earn a living is the driving force behind entering the employment market, and often illegally. Where refugees and migrants do not have the required work permits, their employment is prohibited in terms of the Immigration Act 13 of 2002 and they are thus illegal workers. Until recently, South Africa has followed the same policy as other international countries. Illegal workers did not have access to the protection provided by our labour legislation, by virtue of the illegality of their employment contracts. This position was changed by the Discovery Health case where the courts focused more on the existence of an employment relationship as oppose to an employment contract.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nmmu/vital:10289 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Swartz, Natasha Schantal |
| Publisher | Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Faculty of Law |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, Masters, LLM |
| Format | iv, 66 leaves, pdf |
| Rights | Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University |
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