Schwartzerwitz: Too many "foreign shops" in Diepsloot

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Too many "foreign shops" in Diepsloot

Competition tensions are escalating between local businessmen and foreign nationals who own businesses in Diepsloot.

Locals are accusing Somali, Pakistani and Ethiopian nationals of taking their “bread” away from them by having more shops than them and trading at very low prices.

They have also accused them of not being in possession of valid trading licences, not being tax compliant and turning RDP houses into spaza shops.

Diepsloot community policing forum (CPF) chairperson Sam Seale told The New Age yesterday that the forum had received several complaints from local businessmen that foreigners were “bankrupting” them.

Seale said new ways of encouraging foreign nationals to reduce their numbers were discussed at a meeting last week.

“

We will be holding another meeting this weekend with all parties involved to reach an amicable solution,” he said.

Seale said the CPF supported the call to reduce the number of foreign-owned businesses.

“You will find, for example, one Pakistan national owning up to 10 shops in the area, making it difficult for locals to survive the competition,” he said.

Seale said they have invited a body that represents foreign businessmen to attend the meeting which will be held on Saturday at Diepsloot Extension 7 MPCC community hall.

Business and enterprise forum chairperson Baznaar Moloi said foreigners owning many shops in the townships and informal settlements was a problem about which the organisation received complaints from Sebokeng, Orlando, Soweto and Sharpeville to Daveyton on the East Rand.

Though Moloi did not say which trade law of the country was being undermined by the spread of foreign-owned shops, he insisted that locals must “have their share of the cake”.

Abram Mabuke, a local councillor, said complaints about shops owned by foreigners had become tedious.

“As the government we do not have a problem with foreigners having shops.

“They can have as many shops as they want as long as proper procedures are followed,” he said.

Mabuke said he will notify law enforcement agencies to be on standby to prevent any violence at foreign business owners. (from the New Age)

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Every Pogrom needs an Armband....

Welcome to Schwartzerwitz. The inevitable consequence of 4 million illegal immigrants arriving in South Africa. More desperate than our local folk they are willing to work longer harder faster for less. The immigrants are more reliable than South African unskilled labour and have outcompeted the local folk. No matter what anyone says it's not FAIR on our locals. Adding 4 million hungry mouths to the country has exacerbated the rocketing food prices felt across the globe. Adding 4 million potential electricity users to the mix has undoubtedly worsened the electricity situation. Having 4 million people send home money to their family drains the economy of money which should stay within the borders. Adding 4 million people and not registering them as taxpayers has cost the country billions. What chance does our government of ridding the country of shacks as per the Millennium Development Goal when 4 million immigrants build/rent shacks. Murambatsvina in Zimbabwe....? Just move to a shack in South Africa. On an individual basis this site condemns violent acts against individuals. However as a collective the illegal immigrants deserve no sympathy and should be deported back from whence they came. These people are economic refugees - "not real refugees" - and they are(generally speaking) in South Africa illegally.

kwerekwere.

The inside cover of my Oxford English dictionary features a word with which I have become all too familiar: the word is kwerekwere.

(It may be more familiar to you with one of its vernacular language–dependant prefixes prepended — the Sotho singular being le– and plural ma–, the Nguni singular being i– and plural ama–). This word is used to refer to black (in the morphological sense) Africans who are not South Africans — South African being defined as Sotho, Nguni, Venda and Tsonga ethnic groups (by that measure the Swazis, Batswana, etc. would be South African?). This word has a very negative sting to it and is often used with contempt. From what I gather it has undertones which speak of how black Africans are believed to be sub–human, too dark and have a pungent smell.