Members of the Zwelihle Renewal activist group in Hermanus in the Overstrand municipality are planning a civil protest from Tuesday until Friday. Spokesperson, Siyabulela Notwala says they will be marching to businesses that are employing more foreigners than locals.
The coastal town experienced lengthy violent protests a year ago – which caused damage running into millions of rands and ruined the town’s economy.
Notwala is accusing the businesses of unethical employment policies which he claims is breeding xenophobic tensions.
“They want the community to stand up and say these people are taking our jobs. You know how xenophobia starts – they want that thing to start so that they can say ‘yeah the leaders of the community are xenophobic,’ so we are trying to prevent that,” says Notwala.
