South Africa said to be in talks with Huawei unit to settle lawsuit over hiring

Authorities took the subsidiary to court this month, saying it had not met a requirement for 60 per cent of workers to be locals

Labour department lawyer says officials met representatives of the company on Monday about a possible out-of-court settlement

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Chinese firms Huawei and ZTE have built the bulk of Africa’s existing telecoms infrastructure. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 9:26pm, 23 Feb 2022

South Africa’s labour department is negotiating a possible out-of-court settlement with a subsidiary of China’s Huawei Technologies, which it accuses of failing to comply with local hiring quotas, a government official told Reuters.

South Africa is facing its highest unemployment levels since the end of white minority rule in 1994. Authorities took Huawei Technologies South Africa to court this month, stating it had not met a requirement that 60 per cent of workers must be South African.

Fikiswa Mncanca-Bede, a lawyer at the labour department, told Reuters its officials met Huawei Technologies South Africa’s representatives on Monday.

“We are still negotiating a settlement out of court with some conditions,” she said. “[The] case has been stayed until we reach an agreement or not.”

Mncanca-Bede said the department was aiming to conclude negotiations by Friday.

Huawei’s Shenzhen-based parent company referred a Reuters request for comment on the allegations and talks with the labour department to its local subsidiary.