The recent bust of a sweatshop in Newcastle, where Chinese nationals were arrested for running illegal operations and exploiting workers some reportedly paid as little as R50 a week has once again shone a harsh light on South Africa’s broken immigration and labour system. The Azania Movement is calling it exactly what it looks like: modern-day exploitation that’s been allowed to fester for far too long.
This isn’t just about one factory. It’s proof that weak enforcement lets bad actors—regardless of where they’re from get away with treating people like disposable labour. Workers living on-site in dangerous conditions, undocumented people trapped in the system, and owners dodging proper visas since as far back as 2018. It’s unacceptable, and it hurts everyone: the exploited workers, local communities, and South Africans who deserve fair jobs and protection.
The Azania Movement has been pushing this point for a while: immigration rules can’t keep being cooked up by politicians and elites in fancy offices. They have to come from the people who actually live with the consequences townships, workers, small business owners, everyday South Africans.
That’s why the Movement previously reached out to groups like Operation Dudula, urging them to team up on a real People’s Policy on Immigration and Economic Participation, something that could actually be taken to Parliament and reflect real experiences on the ground, not top-down decisions.
The latest example? The Draft Revised White Paper on Citizenship, Immigration and Refugee Protection that came out in December 2025 from the Department of Home Affairs. The Azania Movement flat-out rejected it because ordinary people weren’t meaningfully consulted. Real dialogue? Missing. And when policies this important are shaped without hearing from communities hit hardest, it just widens the gap between leaders and the led.
Adding fuel to the fire for many: the current Minister of Home Affairs, Leon Schreiber, who wasn’t born in South Africa (he’s originally from a German-speaking background in Europe, though he’s a long-time South African citizen and politician). The point the Movement is making is clear how can someone from outside the lived reality of most black South Africans lead on rules that shape who gets to stay, work, and build here? It feels like another layer of disconnection from the people.
But the Azania Movement is clear: any crackdown on immigration abuse has to be fair and even-handed. It can’t just target black African foreigners while turning a blind eye to others. If laws are going to be enforced, they apply to everyone no favourites, no bias. Groups like Operation Dudula need to stay consistent and non-discriminatory too.
The bigger picture is even tougher: huge chunks of South Africa’s retail, malls, hotels, and big economic sectors are owned or controlled by foreign nationals. From Sandton to Mall of Africa, the ownership story often doesn’t include black South Africans in a meaningful way. That’s not resentment, it’s reality. South Africans can’t keep being sidelined in their own economy.
The bottom line from the Azania Movement: South Africans must come first in their own country. But that priority has to happen the right way lawfully, without hate or unfair targeting, and with ordinary people right in the middle of deciding how. They want a proper national conversation that actually protects workers from exploitation, shuts down these sweatshops and abuses, and starts rebuilding real economic ownership for black South Africans.
Until immigration and economic policies start listening to the people instead of the powerful few, problems like the Newcastle sweatshop will keep happening and everyone loses.