The Kiffness bemoaned having to replace his Malawian gardener with a South African one, calling the latter “full of excuses”.
This comes amid widespread violent xenophobic and anti-immigrant protests amid a Constitutional Court ruling about removing barriers when granting asylum to immigrants.
The Department of Home Affairs has since withdrawn its directive on processing applications following the backlash.
THE KIFFNESS ON HIRING A SOUTH AFRICAN GARDENER
In a video posted on his TikTok account, The Kiffness – real name David Scott – shared his frustration about hiring a South African to replace his Malawian gardener.
“I’m doing the gardening today because our South African gardener, who has replaced our Malawian gardener, has dropped us for the third time in a row.
“I told him, “Don’t come tomorrow, don’t come again. I’ll just do the gardening. It just goes to show that the reason South African people don’t get employed is that they’re generally unreliable. Obviously, there are exceptions.
“When he was here, our Malawian gardener would rock up at 9 o’clock on the dot, clock off at 3 or 4 o’clock. Ride his own bike to work, and he was the most reliable guy. The South African dude always has excuses, says he has to go to the hospital, or his house is on fire. But the reality is that he is actually just hungover and doesn’t want to come to work.
It’s unclear how or why the Malawian gardener left his post.
In the comments section, The Kiffness rejected claims that he had underpaid his South African gardener. He responds: “It’s not just my replacement gardener. It’s happened with other people I’ve employed in the past. Same story with friends and family. There’s an entitlement problem with South Africans for sure!”
The eccentric music artist asked his followers: “Malawians generally have great work ethic. South Africans, not so much. Why?”
@thekiffnews Malawians generally have great work ethic. South Africans, not so much. Why?
♬ original sound – The KiffNews
REPLACING IMMIGRANTS WITH LOCAL LABOUR IN DOMESTIC WORKER POSITIONS
The Kiffness’s video has sparked a debate about South Africans replacing foreign nationals in the domestic worker sector.
During the 30 June protests, anti-immigrant groups called on South Africans to replace foreign nationals and illegal immigrants with local labour.
In the lead-up to the protests, thousands of Zimbabwean and Malawian informal workers fled to their countries over fear of violence and persecution.
SweepSouth, a service offering domestic cleaning, garden and home maintenance, and caregiving services, revealed its commitment to hiring more South Africans following the mass employee exodus.
CEO Lourandi Kriel told Cape Talk: “We try really hard to get more South Africans onto our platform, and we’ve been doing it for many years. It’s something that we actively work towards… we have to give South African youth more jobs.”
Reports revealed that thousands of South Africans were lining up for jobs in local factories, construction and small businesses, once occupied by immigrants.