PPF members protest at home affairs head office in Pretoria photo by Dimakatso Modipa
Angry members of Put Patrollers First (PPF) delivered yet another memorandum of grievances to the Department of Home Affairs in Tshwane on Monday morning.
The PPF members protest outside the department of home affairs head office.
They sing and dance, holding placards.
Home affairs official Simon Ratau signed and received a memorandum.
According to PPF chairperson Cyril Madlala, his organisation has been delivering memorandums at the Department of Home Affairs for many years now without getting any response whatsoever from the department’s authorities.
He said his organisation represents all community patrollers in Gauteng.
“Put Patrollers First was established because Community Policing Forums (CPFs) were failing us,” he said.
He said there must be competition between CPF and community patroller organisations.
He condemned the killing of community patrollers in Soshanguve at the weekend and pointed out that some of the victims were very young.
Regarding the memorandum, Madlala said his organisation was sick and tired of corruption at the Home Affairs which entails the issuing of illegal documents to illegal foreigners by the department’s officials.
“We want corruption within the Department of Home Affairs to stop with immediate effect,”he said.
Madlala pointed out that the security sector is dominated by foreigners who have been hired after presenting to the employer illegal documents that they received from the Department of Home Affairs and this situation contributes to the high unemployment rate among black South Africans, who are denied job opportunities in the security sector.
“I used to work in the security sector for over 15 years but today I am unemployed because opportunities in the security sector are given to foreigners,” said Madlala.
“There must be a balance between the number of foreigners and local South African citizens who are hired in the security industry and our protest must not be regarded as being xenophobic because we are simply fighting for our rights,” he said.
He said the last time PPF members delivered a memorandum to the Department of Home Affairs was last year (around 10 September 2024) and they gave the department 14 days to respond but no response came forth, hence they took it upon themselves to make a follow-up in the form of today’s protest march.
The PPF memorandum partly reads as follows:
The Department of Home Affairs has failed South Africans with corruption, incompetence and treasonous actions, and we will not remain silent under such circumstances.
Their demands are as follows:
1. An end to corruption at the Department of Home Affairs.
2.Stop illegal activities that threaten our nation at the Home Affairs.
3. Hold Home Affairs accountable for its failures.
At the end the memorandum reads as follows:
“South Africa belongs to South Africans, join us as we make our voices heard.”
Copy of a memorandum: