LONDON (Reuters) – 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% of workers must be South African.
Fikiswa Mncanca-Bede, a lawyer at the labour department, told Reuters its officials met with 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.
Huawei Technologies South Africa confirmed it had “entered into talks to reach a settlement agreement” and that the court case had been stayed pending an outcome.
(Reporting by Nqobile Dludla; Editing by Promit Mukherjee, Joe Bavier and Mark Potter)
