RESIDENTS ENRAGED BY RACISM, HIRING OF FOREIGNERS AND CORRUPT COPS IN HAARTIES

Hundreds of residents of Hartbeespoort marched to various places in their area on Friday to express their rage regarding racism by white people, the hiring of illegal foreigners instead of local black people and corrupt police officers who treat local residents shabbily.

They started marching to the Crocodile mine move to police station and the march ended at the Village mall.

Marching under the banner of South African National Civics Association, the enraged marchers first delivered their memorandum at the local Crocodile mines, where they demanded that local citizens be employed with immediate effect and that the mine must get rid of illegal foreigners that it has employed.

Northwest SANCO Deputy Chairperson Joseph Moyo told Tshwane Talks that there is a lot of racism going on in Haarties and that whites in the area want to turn Haarties into Orania.

“Police are preventing black businesses from getting licenses, and we demand that those police to be removed from the position and put someone who is capable of doing the job without looking at the colour of a person.”

Despite raising these concerns with Madibeng Municipality and various government departments since 2018, no action has been taken,” said Moyo.

Haarties is situated in Brits in the North West Province.

Different organisations like Tshwane Bahlali Dudula, SACP and Haarties Chamber of Commerce, SA job seekers movement joined the protest march.

SANCO leader Joseph Moyo said the following:

“I was born in Brits and I learned to fish in Haarties dam and whites are crazy because they have now written a petition whereby they are calling for this place to be theirs.”

Community leader Martin Serero said the issue of racism has been present for a long time especially regarding the area near the Haarties dam, whereby black people are not allowed to do business but whites are allowed to do so.

“In 2018 we embarked on a march to address the issue of racism regarding the area near Haarties dam but the local municipality has not assisted us, hence we decided to shut down Haarties so that all stakeholders would be compelled to come to a roundtable discussion of racism in this area,” he said.

“The office of the president and those of all relevant Ministers and government officials must come down and help us resolve the issue of racism in Haarties,” he said.

He said unlike in 2018, Friday’s shutdown has gained a lot of media coverage and that has drawn the attention of all stakeholders including white mine owners who are shaking now and are willing to discuss the issue of employing foreigners instead of locals.

Spokesperson of SA Jobseekers Movement Mthokozisi Khambule said the land on which the Crocodile mines are situated is not private property but it belongs to South Africans and the mine owners, Home Affairs and Department of Labour must work together to make sure that South African laws are obeyed and this thing of hiring foreigners because of cheap labour must come to an end.

“Our mandate is to make sure that jobless South Africans get employed in different sectors, including here at Crocodile mines,” said Khambule, pointing out that the mine is next to the residents yet the residents don’t benefit from it.

Haarties Chamber of Commerce chairperson Tumi Ramashia said there is lots of opportunities in Haarties but black people are denied access to them.

“Our property as small businesspeople has been vandalised here in Haarties and the government must intervene and check our profiles so that we can be given job opportunities as small businesses,” he said.

He emphasised that there are opportunities in the spheres of fit-and-supply and cleaning materials.

Tshwane Bahlali Dudula representative said they as Dudula have been harassed countless times and threatened with arrest and that they are not afraid anymore.

“Our motto is that illegal immigrants are a burden to our economy and yet Village Mall is harboring illegal foreigners and if you as management of the mall don’t need our call we will make sure that the mall stops operating and boycott it, so make sure that all illegal immigrants who work here move out or we will come and carry them out forcefully,” he said.

Another leader said the area around which Village Mall in Haarties has been built is a symbol of land dispossession as it was previously occupied by people who have since been relocated to Bokfontein and that it is unreasonable for police to now arrest them each time they set foot there.

He lamented the fact that there are corrupt, crooked cops at the local police station who spread rumours that the march was not approved, and that people would be arrested, thus leading to some people staying away due to fear of being arrested.

At the same protest march SACP Bojanala Secretary Maleho Gaonakala said he didn’t want to talk about racism, foreigners and corrupt cops but instead directed his anger at President Cyril Ramaphosa and the ANC, adding that black people won’t get anything from the Government of National Unity.

“We must call a political council which will exclude the ANC and discuss the plight of our people and what they are going through,” he fumed.