Builders Warehouse jobseekers in a standoff with police boss
LONEHILL- Scores of jobseekers returned to the Builders Warehouse gate in Lonehill and conquered.
The tradesmen who ply their business at the gate told the station commander of Douglasdale Police Station, Brigadier Lettie Hugo to her face, that they were not going anywhere. The dramatic verbal confrontation unfolded under the watch of the Fourways Review news team.
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“You guys can’t group here and harass people coming to buy here. You mustn’t loiter, drink beer or urinate here,” said Hugo who had just walked out of a meeting with Builders Warehouse management.
The jobseekers answered back and demanded to know which crime they had committed by looking for work. “Officer, just tell us what we have done wrong to deserve arrests, we are not criminals, but decent people looking for jobs at a spot where contractors frequent,” said one jobseeker during an impromptu public meeting in the street.
“How is this a crime?”
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The police boss calmed them down by saying, “I understand that not all of you are criminals, but I appeal to you to stop harassing people by following them to their cars demanding jobs or jumping into people’s cars.”
They answered back and said, “We are not doing that.”
Some of the jobseekers continued plying their business while police officers were addressing them.
Hugo also warned them to always move around with their documents to avoid being arrested for being in the country illegally. “Next time, the police will come here with Home Affairs officials and make sure that your papers are in order.” She then went on to check their papers.
In an interview, Hugo added that the contractors had created this situation. “If the local people were not picking them up here and giving them jobs, then they wouldn’t be here. They created a market for them.”
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Hugo added that the majority of jobseekers who were arrested two weeks ago were eventually released since most of them were facing bylaw charges which she described as a petty crime.
