"It's a Joke": Johannesburg Woman Calls Out Self-Made Group for Harassing SA Business Owners

• A content creator slammed a group calling itself Labour Laws Enforcement for allegedly harassing business owners across South Africa
• The woman filmed herself showing three individuals at a TotalEnergies petrol station questioning the group's legal authority to conduct workplace inspections
• Her video sparked heated debate online amid ongoing tensions over undocumented foreign nationals and employment in the country

A young woman has gone viral after calling out a group called Labour Laws Enforcement, accusing them of bullying business owners without any legal mandate to do so.

TikTok user @athomewithtendi posted the video on 24 July 2026, filming herself showing a TotalEnergies petrol station while three people in matching branded T-shirts stood visible behind her. She addressed the camera, questioning who exactly gave this group permission to walk onto private business premises and issue demands.

"I don't think that they have been contracted by the government, because as far as I know, the Department of Labour has got their own people that go around and do inspections that are paid to do that."

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Who authorised this group?

Her central concern was straightforward: anyone can print a T-shirt, create a Facebook page and a Gmail account, and suddenly present themselves as an enforcement authority. She warned that this sets a dangerous precedent, where ordinary citizens could walk into a business, claim inspection rights, and potentially use that access to commit crimes.

"After they gain access onto your property, the next thing, they take out a firearm and they rob you blind," she said.

She also called out a specific individual named, who she accused of harassing business owners in Swift and Middelburg while speaking "with so much authority" but, in her words, "talking nonsense."

Her message to business owners was to take this issue seriously, stating that the situation is spiralling out of control.

Mzansi weighs in

South Africans flooded the comments section on the TikTok page with their own takes:

@maluva asked:

"Ramaphosa, is he still the president or is there no longer a government?"

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@🇳🇬xtiandosetijer TyAfrican wrote:

"South Africa is becoming a joke. The only country that is stressing God."

@Kenny noted:

"You said they came out of the woodwork."

Watch the video that set off the debate below:

More on migration and enforcement tensions

• Briefly News recently reported on Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa confirming that returnees from South Africa would receive no special employment.
• Over 1,000 Ugandan citizens were repatriated from South Africa and processed through holding camps before the government launched economic empowerment programmes for them.
• A Zimbabwean man's online rant about rising crime back home sparked debate, as he blamed fellow citizens who returned after facing xenophobic attacks in South Africa.

Source: Briefly News