Supporters of Operation Dudula recently held a peaceful protest in Stellenbosch, during which they handed over a memorandum to 12 local businesses. The memorandum demands the removal of the illegal immigrants that protesters claimed work at the businesses.
This is according to Aluta Mthimkulu, the Western Cape secretary of Operation Dudula, an organisation which advocates for the removal of illegal immigrants from the country.
A protest initiated by supporters of Operation Dudula recently took place in Stellenbosch. Protesters handed over a memorandum to 12 businesses that they alleged employ illegal immigrants. The memorandum demands the removal of illegal immigrant employees within seven working days, according to Zoliswa Ngcambu, a supporter of Operation Dudula who attended the protest. PHOTO: Téa Bell
“We are only giving [the businesses] seven working days. For them to do what? To remove all these illegal immigrants,” said Mthimkulu. Operation Dudula will return with representatives from the department of home affairs if their demands are not met within the timeframe they set out, claimed Mthimkulu.
Two of the 12 representatives of the businesses presented with the memorandum refused to sign it, according to Zoliswa Ngcambu, a participant in the 15 July protest and supporter of Operation Dudula.
Zoliswa Ngcambu, Aluta Mthimkulu and Nkuleko Watermeyer participated in the Operation Dudula protest in Stellenbosch recently. Here, they are holding the curriculum vitaes (CV) of South African job candidates. “When we go to your company, we come with our own CVs. These are people that are qualified for you to employ them in that company and remove these illegal immigrants,” said Mthimkulu, the Western Cape secretary of Operation Dudula. PHOTO: William Brederode
Business response
The protesters handed over a memorandum at Col’Cacchio in Stellenbosch. The person receiving the document on behalf of the establishment was one of the people who refused to sign the memorandum. He told protesters that he would take the memorandum with him and “deal with it appropriately”.
He was not willing to give his name to MatieMedia.
Steven Bulmer, the operations manager at Meraki, a restaurant in Stellenbosch, agreed to sign the memorandum on the basis that his signature only marked his receipt of the document. He told MatieMedia that the allegations made by the protesters – that Meraki employed illegal immigrants – were false.
Steven Bulmer, operations manager at Meraki in Stellenbosch, was handed a memorandum at a recent Operation Dudula protest which called for the removal of the illegal immigrants which Operation Dudula claimed work there. Bulmer said that the claims that Meraki hired illegal immigrants are false. PHOTO: William Brederode
“[Mthimkulu’s] specific statement is that we have hired illegal immigrants, which we haven’t. Every single foreign national that we’ve hired has got work permits,” said Bulmer.
Bulmer said that he believes employment opportunities should not be limited to South Africans. “In terms of hiring South Africans only – we are all human beings.”
‘South Africans first’
Mthimkulu claimed that South African workers are not able to find employment because illegal immigrants are prepared to work at wage rates that are “not acceptable” to South African workers.
“That’s why [businesses] hire [illegal immigrants], and we refuse. We refuse because we have families to support,” said Mthimkulu.
Nkuleko Watermeyer, one of the protesters present, claimed that illegal immigrants are responsible for many of the crimes committed in South Africa.
An Immigrant’s response
A Stellenbosch-based delivery driver, who came to South Africa from the Democratic Republic of the Congo seven years ago in search of work, told MatieMedia that the protest made him feel “very unsafe”.
“Foreigners in this country don’t have anyone to support them. South Africans, they are in their own country. They have aunties, uncles, mothers. Foreigners live because they work, so, if we don’t work, we can’t stay in our houses,” said a Stellenbosch-based delivery driver from the Democratic Republic of Congo. The delivery driver, who asked to remain anonymous, told MatieMedia that he moved to South Africa seven years ago in search of work. VIDEO: William Brederode
The driver, who asked to remain anonymous, told MatieMedia that he would avoid delivering to areas beyond central Stellenbosch for several days following the protest. This is because he fears that the lives of immigrant delivery drivers in nearby townships will be at risk of xenophobic attacks. He claimed that stones might be thrown at immigrant delivery drivers, or they might be shot at.
“We [immigrant delivery drivers] are scared,” he said.
By Téa Bell and William Brederode