‘No to foreigners’ youngsters say

In the past few weeks this group has been going to the Nkowankowa Industrial Area for employment opportunities and demanding that foreign workers without documentation be fired. They accuse the employers in the area of favouring foreigners, “because it is easy to pay them low wages”.

“They cannot employ foreigners in our own backyard when the majority of our youth are unemployed. “They are cutting costs by appointing outsiders, because they don’t have to pay UIF and other fees. “Most of these foreigners don’t have work permits, hence they settle for any pay,” an anonymous disgruntled resident explained.

The locals went to most of the factories in the area to ‘inspect’ how many locals were employed. According to them, most of the workers were not from South Africa and that did not sit well with them. Political parties were also on the forefront of this initiative.

Also read: Nkowankowa a no-gone zone during protests

An anonymous EFF member told the Herald that they got involved because they received complaints from employees at the companies suspected of employing illegal people. “We were told that the company owners hire Zimbabweans particularly as supervisors.

“The foreigners in supervisory positions demand R500 every month from locals, and if they don’t pay, they cause them to get fired. “We are also looking after the interests of the foreigners, as we believe that company owners don’t pay the outsiders the salaries that were agreed upon.

When this is queried, they call the police demanding their arrest because they don’t have documentation. “We also want the companies to stop discriminating against all people and demand that at least 60% of employees are locals, 40% can be outsiders,” said the EFF member. As a result of these actions, some companies have absorbed disgruntled residents in their labour force. A brick and tile factory hired 25 peo