Police on high alert in De Doorns
18 November 2009, 07:22
By Luvuyo Mjekula and Craig McKune
Heavily armed police remained on high alert in De
Doorns last night after about 1 000 locals, entirely dependent on seasonal farm work, drove out 3 000 Zimbabweans they accused of stealing their jobs in the small poverty-stricken town near Worcester.
Gallery: Xenophobia
The South African workers say labour brokers are hiring the Zimbabweans because they will work for less than the R60 legal daily minimum wage.
By early yesterday afternoon, scores of displaced people were being transported in trucks and police vehicles to an old municipal building where they would be housed until shelter was secured for them.
Many women with children on their backs and their bags and blankets in their hands were seen walking from Stofland village, where they lived, to a municipal hall about a kilometre away.
Many mothers were worried about their children who had not had anything to eat. "My heart is bleeding," one, who asked not to be named for fear of victimisation, lamented.
Braam Hanekom of refugee rights organisation Passop (People Against Suffering, Suppression, Oppression and Poverty) said police had reacted too slowly and could have prevented the evictions by raising their profile in the area over the weekend. He said the claims that Zimbabweans were
working for low wages needed to be investigated.
The locals stoned and looted the Zimbabweans' houses, forcing them out. Some were forced out of employers' trucks and prevented from going to work.
Nationals of Lesotho and other neighbouring countries were not affected. While the South Africans deny the evictions are xenophobic, the Zimbabweans insist xenophobia was the motive.
"I think it's all in the mind. They just don’t like foreigners," said a 28-year-old woman.
But South African residents who spoke to the Cape Times said they did not hate the Zimbabweans but wanted them to leave peacefully.
"I don't know where I'm going to sleep tonight. It was better in Zimbabwe than this," said a 30-year-old who asked not to be named.
De Doorns mayor Charles Ntsomi said about 3 000 people had been driven from their homes by late yesterday, but no one had been hurt.
The first of them, 60 adults and eight children, had been chased from their homes on Saturday morning, he said.
"There's only seasonal work on the farms, and with it now being season time everyone's looking for a job."
He said farmworkers had accused labour brokers and
farmers of paying locals and foreigners different wages.
"The farmers say South African workers don't go to
work on Monday. And on payday they don't work because they are getting their grant, but you can't blame (the workers) for this," Ntsomi said.
"What makes the situation worse is that the Department of Home Affairs recently opened an immigration office. There was a complete influx of foreigners to that office, and they stay because their applications are processed slowly."
Zimbabwean worker Stalin Mkombo said the trouble began in the early hours of Saturday when people who had been drinking at a shebeen stoned the homes of Zimbabweans.
Police Superintendent Desmond van der Westhuizen said police were trying to help move nearly 2 000 people gathered at the municipal offices to the local sports ground, where disaster managers hoped to set up a marquee and ablution facilities.
The Zimbabweans were not willing to go back to
Stofland because they were too scared of the South Africans.
"All the farmers are worried because no one has worked "today. The vines need to be tended to every day. Some farmers are now taking people to their farms on trucks."
Police spokesman Andre Greyling said three arrests had been made over the weekend but none had been made since yesterday's outbreak.
Community safety MEC Lennit Max, who visited the
town yesterday, said the situation was still "very tense".
Farmers had"vigorously denied" that farmworkers were paid different rates.
Elza Jordaan, executive chairwoman of the Hex Valley Table Grape Association, which represents farmers, said claims that farmers paid foreigners lower rates were untrue.
"Our farmers pay Zimbabweans the same rate as any
other workers. We are forced to do that by law. You can't cheat."
She also said claims that Zimbabweans worked on Sundays were false.
Heavily armed police remained on high alert in De
Doorns last night after about 1 000 locals, entirely dependent on seasonal farm work, drove out 3 000 Zimbabweans they accused of stealing their jobs in the small poverty-stricken town near Worcester.
Gallery: Xenophobia
The South African workers say labour brokers are hiring the Zimbabweans because they will work for less than the R60 legal daily minimum wage.
By early yesterday afternoon, scores of displaced people were being transported in trucks and police vehicles to an old municipal building where they would be housed until shelter was secured for them.
Many women with children on their backs and their bags and blankets in their hands were seen walking from Stofland village, where they lived, to a municipal hall about a kilometre away.
Many mothers were worried about their children who had not had anything to eat. "My heart is bleeding," one, who asked not to be named for fear of victimisation, lamented.
Braam Hanekom of refugee rights organisation Passop (People Against Suffering, Suppression, Oppression and Poverty) said police had reacted too slowly and could have prevented the evictions by raising their profile in the area over the weekend. He said the claims that Zimbabweans were
working for low wages needed to be investigated.
The locals stoned and looted the Zimbabweans' houses, forcing them out. Some were forced out of employers' trucks and prevented from going to work.
Nationals of Lesotho and other neighbouring countries were not affected. While the South Africans deny the evictions are xenophobic, the Zimbabweans insist xenophobia was the motive.
"I think it's all in the mind. They just don’t like foreigners," said a 28-year-old woman.
But South African residents who spoke to the Cape Times said they did not hate the Zimbabweans but wanted them to leave peacefully.
"I don't know where I'm going to sleep tonight. It was better in Zimbabwe than this," said a 30-year-old who asked not to be named.
De Doorns mayor Charles Ntsomi said about 3 000 people had been driven from their homes by late yesterday, but no one had been hurt.
The first of them, 60 adults and eight children, had been chased from their homes on Saturday morning, he said.
"There's only seasonal work on the farms, and with it now being season time everyone's looking for a job."
He said farmworkers had accused labour brokers and
farmers of paying locals and foreigners different wages.
"The farmers say South African workers don't go to
work on Monday. And on payday they don't work because they are getting their grant, but you can't blame (the workers) for this," Ntsomi said.
"What makes the situation worse is that the Department of Home Affairs recently opened an immigration office. There was a complete influx of foreigners to that office, and they stay because their applications are processed slowly."
Zimbabwean worker Stalin Mkombo said the trouble began in the early hours of Saturday when people who had been drinking at a shebeen stoned the homes of Zimbabweans.
Police Superintendent Desmond van der Westhuizen said police were trying to help move nearly 2 000 people gathered at the municipal offices to the local sports ground, where disaster managers hoped to set up a marquee and ablution facilities.
The Zimbabweans were not willing to go back to
Stofland because they were too scared of the South Africans.
"All the farmers are worried because no one has worked "today. The vines need to be tended to every day. Some farmers are now taking people to their farms on trucks."
Police spokesman Andre Greyling said three arrests had been made over the weekend but none had been made since yesterday's outbreak.
Community safety MEC Lennit Max, who visited the
town yesterday, said the situation was still "very tense".
Farmers had"vigorously denied" that farmworkers were paid different rates.
Elza Jordaan, executive chairwoman of the Hex Valley Table Grape Association, which represents farmers, said claims that farmers paid foreigners lower rates were untrue.
"Our farmers pay Zimbabweans the same rate as any
other workers. We are forced to do that by law. You can't cheat."
She also said claims that Zimbabweans worked on Sundays were false.
- This article was originally published on page 1 of The Cape Times on November 18, 2009
Pretoria
