DURBAN, Tuesday 8 September 2026 — KwaZulu-Natal Premier Thamsanqa Ntuli has ordered an investigation into an alleged information leak that compromised a multi-agency operation targeting factories suspected of employing hundreds of undocumented foreign nationals in Mandeni, raising questions about the integrity of law-enforcement operations in the province.
Ntuli said his office would work with law-enforcement agencies to establish how details of Monday’s planned operation in the Isithebe Industrial Zone in KwaSithebe apparently reached businesses before officials arrived.
The operation involved the South African Police Service, Department of Employment and Labour and Home Affairs officials.
Authorities had acted on information alleging that about 400 undocumented foreign nationals were employed at factories in the industrial area.
When officials arrived, however, several businesses were closed and workers were seen leaving the area.
Ntuli said employees told him that employers had been warned about the operation and that some workers had either been told not to report for duty or had been sent home before officials arrived.
Those claims have not yet been independently established by an investigation.
No finding has been made identifying the person who allegedly disclosed the operation or establishing whether any state official was responsible.
The premier nevertheless described the incident as a serious concern and said police would investigate the source of any leak while his office reviewed which officials and institutions had access to operational information.
“We want to know what really happened,” Ntuli told SABC News, saying authorities needed to determine who had received the information and prevent similar compromises in future operations.
Operation produced no undocumented-worker arrests
EWN reported that the operation ended without finding the hundreds of undocumented workers authorities had expected to encounter.
That outcome contrasted with previous enforcement operations in the Mandeni industrial area.
In April 2025, a joint operation involving Employment and Labour, Home Affairs, SAPS and local authorities resulted in the arrest of 63 undocumented foreign nationals and an employer at the Isithebe industrial area.
Sections of factories were also closed for alleged non-compliance during that operation, according to an official Department of Employment and Labour statement.
A further operation in October 2025 led to two employers and 47 undocumented workers being arrested and one non-compliant factory being closed.
The history of enforcement in the area formed part of the reason officials regarded Monday’s outcome as unusual.
Ntuli said previous inspections had succeeded when companies were not aware in advance that authorities were coming.
On Monday, by contrast, officials arrived to find some workplaces closed or workers already leaving.
The alleged leak therefore raises two separate issues: whether businesses were warned to evade inspection and whether confidential operational information was improperly disclosed by someone with access to it.
Neither has yet been proved.
Immigration enforcement increasingly politically prominent
The Mandeni operation forms part of the provincial government’s Engangeni Ngesango Iyafohla programme, through which authorities have intensified inspections targeting immigration, labour-law and business-compliance violations.
Ntuli has made undocumented migration a prominent provincial-government issue while also arguing that enforcement must distinguish between unlawful migration and legally resident foreign nationals.
At a provincial migration summit in June, he said migration management should be lawful, humane and consistent with constitutional principles while acknowledging pressure on employment, services and communities.
Immigration has become an increasingly prominent political issue nationally and ahead of the 4 November local government elections, particularly in urban and industrial areas where parties are competing over employment and service-delivery concerns.
Government is also due to provide a national update on migration policy on Tuesday, when the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Migration is scheduled to brief the media in Pretoria.
The Mandeni incident therefore lands amid heightened scrutiny of how government enforces existing immigration and labour legislation.
For Ntuli’s provincial administration, the immediate issue is narrower: whether officials entrusted with advance knowledge of a law-enforcement operation compromised it.
The premier has said the provincial government will continue inspections despite Monday’s setback.
The next material development will be whether the investigation identifies how information reached the targeted businesses and whether disciplinary or criminal action follows against any person found responsible.
