WATCH | ‘We aren’t fighting against fellow Africans,’ says Julius Malema as he visits restaurants to check employment ratios

Julius Malema

Cape Town – Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema on Wednesday visited restaurants in Midrand, Gauteng to check how many of their staff were foreign nationals and how many were South Africans.

This came as calls continued for local companies to employ more South Africans.

Malema said last week that his party would be visiting the hospitality industry across the country, assessing how many foreign nationals were employed in the sector.

He vowed to continue pushing for all restaurants in South Africa to employ more South Africans than foreign nationals.

“The visit consists of an interaction between CIC Julius Malema and the management of these restaurants, to check their labour staff compliment and ensure that our fellow Africans are not exploited and locals are employed to a satisfactory levels,” said the EFF in a statement.

The EFF  has called on businesses to make sure that at least 60% of their staff were South Africans.

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On Wednesday, Malema visited several restaurants at the Mall of Africa in Johannesburg and maintained that the visit was not a fight against foreign nationals, but to challenge business owners who refused to hire locals so they could exploit foreigners.

“Let the enemy not distort the message. We are not fighting against fellow Africans. Those are the people we are protecting because they are being exploited. This is not about the Zimbabweans, Mozambicans or people from Lesotho. It’s about locals. Everywhere you do business, hire locals,” said Malema.

According to SABC, party members stood singing outside Kream restaurant, while the EFF leadership held talks with the restaurant manager, who had earlier refused to engage the party.

“If they can’t meet me, they can’t operate. I’ll stand here. I’m not [a] fool. They said to me we are ready to meet you, come today [Wednesday]. Why would South Africans run away from the conversation? I’m not fighting. No one has brought masses here. I came with the leadership.”

“He [the business owner] operates in South Africa, and therefore by virtue of operating in the public space he’s got the responsibility to be answerable. The targeting of foreigners is misleading. We are going to the real people who want to cause xenophobia in South Africa,” said Malema.

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The manager at Kream Restaurant said security was stepped up ahead of  Malema’s controversial visit because his foreign staff members were scared, EWN said.

The manager said that all his foreign employees had working visas, the report said, adding that he initially didn’t want to meet with Malema because the EFF leader had refused to be part of what he called “a spectacle”.

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Compiled by Betha Madhomu 

Article written by