Mboweni says he was confident that the government would support his call.
Finance minister Tito Mboweni said on Friday that businesses in the restaurant industry should implement a new way of doing business post-COVID-19.
Mboweni briefed the media about the multi-billion-rand relief measures aimed at getting the nation through the crisis.
The minister openly stated that businesses in the restaurant industry must employ more South African staff members.
When he returned to SA from exile in 1990, he explained, eight out of 10 workers at restaurants were South African.
“The other two were probably Malawian or Zimbabwean. Today almost 100% are non-South African,” he said.
“The new economy that we are getting into after the lifting of the lockdown must answer that question. Any establishment wanting to reopen must have a new labour market policy which prioritises South Africans but does not discriminate against [foreign nationals],” Mboweni said.
“The proportion of South Africans working in a restaurant must be greater than that of non-South Africans,” he said.