Maputo — The Mozambican Ministry of Labour, through the National Directorate of Migrant Labour (DTM), ensured the maintenance of more than 21,000 jobs for Mozambicans in neighbouring South Africa in 2021, according to Labour Minister Margarida Talapa.
Of this number, 18,800 are mine workers and 3,058 are workers in the agricultural sector.
During the first quarter of this year, the DTM ensured the placement of 8,962 new workers in South Africa, of which 8,175 are in the mines and 787 are in the agricultural sector.
Talapa disclosed this data on Monday, in Maputo, at the opening of a National Meeting on Migrant Labor.
"As a result of the implementation of our governance program and intervention in the private sector, we have contributed to the creation of jobs, registration of foreign workers and maintenance of employment for our fellow citizens in South Africa", the Minister said.
She explained that, as a result of Government efforts for the social protection of mine workers, her Ministry has obtained from the South African mines a disbursement of about 900 million meticais (about 14 million US dollars) by the first quarter of this year to compensate for occupational diseases.
"Up to the first quarter of this year, we have monitored a total of 1,593 beneficiaries of occupational disease compensation and welfare", the minister said.
She also stressed the need for a thorough analysis of the hiring of workers of other nationalities for the Mozambican labour market, which should be done following the law.
"In this sense, we want to appeal to the entire technical team of migration work to observe, fully and rigorously, the legislation in force on this matter", she said. The Ministry has received denunciations of acts of corruption including the use of forged certificates.
"We are and will be intolerant to any kind of corruption", she warned.
In the DTM, in 2014, 113 million meticais went missing, a case for which the former Labour Minister, Helena Taipo, and senior officials of the institution, are currently on trial.
