Bree Street construction halted due to immigration raid

Tags

---

19-05-2026
Read : 5 times
Cape Argus
Source

A construction site on lower Bree Street came to a screeching halt on Monday as authorities conducted a raid where several undocumented workers were detained.

"It's just that we have foreigners that are working on the construction site, and now they want to verify their documents," said a safety official at the site, who spoke on condition that they not be named.

Just before 9am, at least 11 police vans surrounded the active construction site, said to be a 42-storey hotel, with metro police, the SA Police Service (SAPS), law enforcement, and Cape Town Central City Improvement District (CCID) keeping watch for any who attempted to evade inspection.

It is estimated that between 170 to 200 people were actively working on the site, according to the safety official. 

Led by the labour department, the raid resulted in at least 27 arrests.

A representative of the main contractor, Anastasi Construction, who was at the site on Monday, refused to provide further detail and said it was a “routine inspection”.

Multiple people around the site said the inspection was supposed to be a regular check-up, however, a police constable said it was not a regular inspection.

“No, this is not a random check. We have a joint operation with all these that we see here,” the constable said.

Two CCID officers said it was not the first inspection that led to the arrest of undocumented workers in the CBD. 

A constable confirmed that by 11am around 27 people were detained.

Police spokesperson Sergeant Wesley Twigg said: “An integrated operation between SAPS and Metro Police on Monday in the Cape Town CBD, led to the arrests of 27 undocumented persons. The men were detained at Cape Town Central police station and will appear in the Cape Town Magistrates’ court once they have been charged.

They face charges in terms of the Immigration Act.”

While the raid was continuing, people were heard screaming for others to hide and to run away.

Some even attempted to run but were caught by officials on the ground. 

“We're just trying to get the people who are here illegally. We’ve got Home Affairs here also, verifying their documents and all stuff. If they do have a working permit, some they do have a visiting permit but not a working permit,” the constable said.

An official from the Department of Employment and Labour (DEL) at the site declined to comment, saying, “not at this time, we have to control this one.”

By early afternoon, construction had resumed.

Over the previous financial year, the DEL slapped 38 employers with fines amounting to R68 000 for hiring illegal foreign nationals without valid work permits in contravention of immigration laws.

In a parliamentary reply, Minister Nomakhosazana Meth said her department conducts blitz inspections in collaboration with the Department of Home Affairs and the police.

Meth said her department’s mandate was to enforce the implementation of labour laws to ensure the protection of workers, while the Department of Home Affairs scrutinised the validity of visas and work permits through the application of immigration laws.

Meth said during the blitz, 68 employers and 322 foreign nationals were found on the wrong side of the law across the nine provinces.

“With respect to the 68 employers arrested, each employer paid an admission of guilt fine to the amount of R10 000.

“Therefore, the total amount paid in lieu of fines is R680 000 while the 322 employees were taken for further processing as per immigration requirements,” she said.

Meth’s response showed the Eastern Cape led the pack with 34 employers that flouted the laws and were fined a collective R340 000, followed by Mpumalanga with 15, Limpopo eight, KwaZulu-Natal five, and two in the Western Cape.

She also said of the 322 foreign employees that were arrested, the largest number, 163, were from Limpopo.

The Western Cape came second with foreign nationals at 43, Eastern Cape and Gauteng at 34 each, Mpumalanga 30, KwaZulu-Natal 16, and Free State two.