A protest broke out in Modder East outside the Gold One Mine on Wednesday morning.
Residents arrived in droves.
The Springs police stood at the ready in case the peaceful protest turned violent.
Protesters burned tyres in the roads and chanted songs as they marched towards the doors of the mine offices, where they waited for the mine’s management to arrive.
Police Captain Johannes Ramphora says: “They (the protesters) are very frustrated with the mine.
“They are demanding that the mine give them jobs.
Also see: Protesters demand jobs from mine
“They have handed in their CVs to management but have not heard anything back.”
He adds: “We managed to calm the situation down, but this morning they were more violent and we had to force them away.
“They also started burning tyres in the road.”
The protesters have drawn up a memorandum that they will deliver to management.
Many of them were holding up cardboard signs saying “Who really owns this mine?”, “Deliver the SLP to the community”, “You agreed on elementary jobs, reservation for the community”, “Today you have failed!”, and “You failed with Skoonplaas, you bully citizens of this country for the benefit of the Chinese. Why?”
They are demanding answers to a variety of employment questions.
Ramphora says: “As soon as they have handed in their memorandum we will disperse them.”
These expressions of frustration echo those of Slovo Park residents, who demanded jobs from Canyon Coal in May this year.
Residents there also felt that immigrants were favoured over them for jobs at the mine, and they were dissatisfied with the lack of answers from the mine management.
A media enquiry has been sent to Gold One about the protesters’ allegations.
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