“It’s All About Power”: Man Explains Why Foreign Workers Are Better to Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma

• Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma joined a debate with a white South African, discussing why foreign workers are often preferred for domestic and factory jobs
• She argued that immigrants work in conditions South Africans would reject, comparing their situation to modern-day slavery
• The conversation touched on apartheid's unhealed wounds and how race still shapes workplace attitudes in South Africa

A TikTok debate about foreign workers and employment in South Africa is gaining significant attention online. Content creator Jacinta, known on TikTok as @koconuttv, posted the clip on 22 July 2026, filmed in what appeared to be a book-lined home office, where she sat down with a white South African man to unpack a question many South Africans think about but rarely debate openly.

The conversation started with the observation that Zimbabwean and Malawian workers are frequently found in private homes and factories. The man in the video suggested that employers often preferred them not because of lower pay, but because of work ethic and attitude, claiming South Africans came with a sense of entitlement. Jacinta did not let that go unchallenged

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Apartheid's shadow shapes workplaces

In a clip reposted by @koconuttv, Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma acknowledged that immigrants travel great distances purely to work, which naturally makes them more focused and willing to endure difficult conditions. But she pushed back on the idea that South Africans' reluctance to work for certain employers is simply a matter of attitude.

She argued that South Africa has never truly healed from apartheid. Black South Africans, she said, sometimes carry preconceived ideas about what white employers mean, and some white employers have never genuinely moved on from their old mindset either. That unresolved tension, she suggested, shapes how both sides show up.

Jacinta said immigrants are forced to accept gruelling work conditions out of necessity. For example, immigrant tuck shop owners live inside their tuck shops, working past midnight with no family structure and no rest. Foreign domestic workers sleep in, work through weekends, and return home without complaint because the money goes back to a family far away.

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South Africans, she said, have a life to return to. A household, a family, a culture that values being home at a certain hour. That, she argued, is not entitlement. It is humanity. Jacinta described these working conditions as a form of modern-day slavery, one immigrants endure not by choice, but by necessity. Watch the full debate that sparked the conversation below:

Mzansi reacts to debate

South Africans had strong feelings in the comments:

@Mkhonde$:

"The attitude he is referring to is that of not seeing them as gods 😂"

@Raz said:

"It's all about cheap labour and power. Remember this happened before in the apartheid era."

@bhekumzijekwa asked:

"How much is the SASSA grant? Maybe I am left behind. Who will choose to live on the SASSA grant rather than choose to work for a salary?"

@Pam, Aphiwe and Aphelele shared:

"They accept sleep-in jobs where you work a whole month, no break, no going home, no rest on weekends 🥺 They can wake you to watch the baby whole night while they sleep and you clean the house all day next morning 🥺"

@Bets added:

"She is forever making sense. She has never allowed anyone to suppress her. She will listen to you, but she will also make sure her point gets across. I love her shame."

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Other Briefly News stories about foreign workers in SA

• A dramatic confrontation at a Spar grocery store in South Africa, where a group of locals demanded the replacement of foreign workers.
• South African farmer Frederick's frustration with local workers who allegedly failed to show up for their shifts led him to consider hiring Zimbabweans again.
• A Cape Town woman's controversial remarks praising Zimbabwean workers sparked a fierce online debate amid ongoing discussions about immigration and employment in South Africa.

Source: Briefly News