"Don't steal human rights from workers" - October 2010

South African Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana has said that he "doesn't know the difference between a person who steals somebody's television and a person who steals somebody's fundamental human right". Both were equally wrong, he implied.

Mdladlana was speaking with reference to employers who do not meet minimum wage levels. Addressing the annual meeting of the clothing industry bargaining council in Cape Town this month, he said that "employers who did not meet minimum wages levels were no better than thieves and should face criminal sanctions".

Some clothes manufacturers seemed to regard non-compliance with wage levels as the norm, but Mdladlana would like to "criminalise people who do not comply with the law".

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Find out more about Minimum Wages in South Africa.