Over the last few months, the road between Kuruman and the mines at Hotazel and Black Rock have frequently been blocked by protesters. They hijack trucks transporting ore which they then park across the road making it completely inaccessible for vehicles.
This past Sunday night and Monday morning, yet another one of these protests was prevented by police officers, coming from as far as Upington, and members of the defence force who had to be deployed. The mines have now agreed to keep their ore-trucks off the road between 04:00 and 07:00.
The reason for the frequent protest actions is community members' insistence that the mines must employ people from the local communities. The answers that the FF Plus received after enquiring about the matter, however, indicate that the mines do employ people from the local communities as far as possible. Only highly specialised work, like sinking a new mine shaft, which is not done on a regular basis in the area in any case, is contracted out to service providers outside of the area.
The unfortunate reality is that unemployment is a pressing problem in this area, like elsewhere in South Africa as well. The economic collapse brought about by the national lockdown only exacerbates the high levels of unemployment and that, in turn, destabilises society. If the underlying problems that restrict economic growth are not resolved soon, this kind of unrest will only spread and occur more frequently.
The FF Plus wants to reiterate that the time has come to abolish legislation such as Affirmative Action and Black Economic Empowerment. Not because the party is opposed to the empowerment of black people, but because it has become abundantly clear that these policies only serve to further enrich those who already find themselves in good positions instead of uplifting the poor.
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