Members of the Central Northern Cape Business Forum were left waiting in the cold after they marched to the Premier’s Office to hand over a memorandum of grievances related to racial discrimination and “jobs for friends”.
MEMBERS of the Central Northern Cape Business Forum were left waiting in the cold after they marched to the Premier’s Office to hand over a memorandum to Northern Cape Premier Dr Zamani Saul pertaining to racial discrimination and “jobs for friends” on September 12.
A march took place from the civic centre in Kimberley and they arrived at the premier’s new offices at the Derek Corns building shortly before 11am, where they were informed that the premier was at the Northern Cape provincial legislature.
The chairperson of the Central Northern Cape Business Forum, Graham Ross, stated that they were told that the premier would avail himself at noon.
“We waited until 2pm and then decided to leave. It was disrespectful to make us wait for three hours. We handed a copy of the memorandum to a representative from the Premier’s Office and I will also e-mail Premier Zamani Saul directly,” said Ross.
He stated that community members from Roodepan and Greenpoint took part in the march.
“We will arrange a follow-up march in the near future as urgent issues of race quotas, cadre deployment, fraud and corruption must be attended to. Coloureds, Indians and whites are being excluded from job opportunities and tertiary education, while there is a bleak outlook for our children. Why should they even bother to further their studies, knowing that they will remain unemployed? Government jobs are being given to friends and family members.”
Ross stated that due to the quota system, white contractors, especially those employed on government projects, were being dismissed on the basis of race.
“The contractor who was awarded a tender to renovate Roodepan Primary School was paid R3.7 million although the work is incomplete. Subcontractors were not paid,” he said.
“The same fencing that was erected around the school was also erected around the perimeter of a high-ranking official’s house. We are convinced that the paint that was used at the school was also used to paint his house. We have referred the matter to the chairperson of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts.”
He explained that no whites had taken part in the march as they were “afraid”.
“We may look like a small crowd, but this is only the beginning. We want to roll out our campaign to the rest of the country.”
Office of the Premier spokesperson Bronwyn Thomas-Abrahams confirmed receipt of the memorandum and stated that they would respond in due course.
A spokesperson for the Northern Cape Department of Education, Geoffrey van der Merwe, said that the bulk of the repair and renovations at Roodepan Primary School have been completed.
“The only outstanding work is the fitting of the pinning boards which will be completed this coming weekend. At the moment there remains an amount of R100 000, which was kept back against the contractor for retention,” said Van der Merwe.
He added that he was not aware of the allegations regarding the purported undue benefits that were made to the school official.
“We are not aware of the allegations but will attend to the concerns raised by the business forum.”
