LACO has warned that rising unemployment and alleged labour abuses could fuel an explosion of xenophobia.
PRESSURE group Labour and Civic Organisation (Laco) estimates that it has placed close to 4,500 individuals in employment since it began its pressure campaign demanding the employment of South Africans.
Laco is an activist group based in Pietermaritzburg that intervenes in workplace and civic disputes across KwaZulu-Natal. The group has marched to several businesses suspected of employing illegal foreign nationals and demanded that they be replaced by locals.
The founder and president of the organisation, Mlungisi Zondi, spoke to The Mercury about the impact of Laco in addressing the employment challenge. He spoke as pressure is mounting on illegal foreign nationals to return to their countries, with thousands said to have left already.
Anti-immigrant critics have discredited calls for foreign nationals to leave on the basis of opening opportunities for locals, stating that foreign nationals are not the reason locals are unemployed. In an interview yesterday, Zondi disagreed.
