March and March
Xolani Dlamini|Published
March and March leader Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma urged supporters to vote against the ANC during a protest in Durban over alleged attacks, foreign nationals working in delivery jobs and immigration enforcement.
Speaking outside the Home Affairs office on Moore Road on Tuesday, Ngobese-Zuma said the ANC government, under President Cyril Ramaphosa, did not care about members of the March and March Movement.
"I had never said you must not vote for the ANC before, but today I am telling you not to vote for the ANC on November 4. No official from Ramaphosa's government had come to hear our grievances," she said.
Protestors fought the heavy rain to march from Moore Road to the Berea Police station in Musgrave, this amid a heavy security presence.
The were marching against the alleged attack on a South African citizen by a foreign-national riding a motorcycle.
Police officers were seen blocking protestors from proceeding with their planned march to the station.
Ngobese-Zuma said they had begged the government to hear their grievances, but they had failed to do so.
She accused Ramaphosa of sending SANDF members and police officers to hurt her members.
"All the police officers and members of SANDF are not here to protect you but to hurt you. They (police officers and soldiers) are being sent by Ramaphosa to shoot you," she said.
"As we speak, Ramaphosa's government went to court to interdict you from marching. We have been told that we are no longer allowed to march. Ramaphosa has stripped us a constitutional right to march," she said.
Ngobese-Zuma said they had been marching for 21 months but Ramaphosa had never come out to hear their issues.
"Ramaphosa is doing the same thing that was done by the Apartheid government. Ramaphosa has directed the police to arrest the people marching, which was done by the apartheid regime," she said.
Motorbike driver Mlungisi Mbonambi, urged the government to take their work seriously.
"We are taking care of ourselves and feeding our families from this job. The government needs to ensure that most South Africans benefit from this job. If you go to many stores, you will see that there are many foreign-nationals delivering on motorbikes," he said.
Mlungisi called on the government to ensure that most South Africans were hired by the stores for delivery jobs.
Another motorbike driver, Zola Mkhwane, said that there were many foreign-nationals doing delivery jobs with motorbikes.
"Our delivery jobs have been taken over by the foreign-nationals. It is a fact that 70 percent of foreign-nationals are in this motorbike business. We cannot live like this in our country. Government and local businesses need to prioritise local residents when it comes to job opportunities," he said.
The grievances in the memorandum presented at the Berea Police station included: the fair employment opportunities for South Africans, regulation of the e-hailing and delivery industry, support for South African owned small business, police accountability and effective immigration enforcement, and call for police to investigate credible complaints of unlawful practices within its operations or contracting arrangements.
Last week, sundaytribune.co.za reported about a motorcade protest for e-hailing drivers organised by the movement.
The protest took place on October 21, as part of the anti-illegal immigration campaign by the March and March movement.
Organisers said at the time the motorcade aimed to pressure the government over immigration enforcement and local labour prioritisation.
During the protest Ngobese-Zuma addressed drivers and threatened a full city shutdown on November 10 if the government proceeded with the online asylum registration system.