Africa-Press – South-Africa. A mere week after President Cyril Ramaphosa led an ANC campaign in Chatsworth, a township in Durban predominantly populated by the country’s Indian community, DA leader John Steenhuisen also came to the area, leading what he described as his party’s defiance campaign against ANC race quotas.
This comes as the battle for three KwaZulu-Natal wards heats up ahead of Wednesday’s by-elections in the province.
Up for grabs are Ward 73 in Chatsworth, where the councillor resigned earlier this year; Ward 15 in Mandeni Municipality in northern KwaZulu-Natal, where the councillor died; and in Ward 12 in uMzimkhulu Local Municipality in southern KwaZulu-Natal, where the councillor also died earlier this year.
During his campaign in Chatsworth on Saturday, Steenhuisen criticised the ANC’s draft targets in terms of the Employment Equity Amendment Act, which has been published for comment.
Chatsworth was a township established in 1959 to segregate the Indian population and create a buffer between the white suburbs of Durban to the north and the black townships to the south.
“Nearly 100 years ago, a man was born in the small town of Schweizer-Reneke in today’s North West Province. He was the fourth of six children, with family roots going back to the Indian state of Gujarat. His name was Ahmed Kathrada,” Steenhuisen said.
“Uncle Kathy, as many would later call him, went on to play a seminal role in the fight against racial segregation. In fact, even as a teenager, Mr Kathrada fought against the so-called ‘Indian Ghetto Act’, which sought to restrict where Indian South Africans could live, trade, and own land.
“He was jailed for his defiance campaign before he was even 20 years old. Many years later, he was imprisoned for life as part of the Rivonia Trial. He spent 18 years on Robben Island. I’m sharing this story with you because I’d like all of us here to consider what Uncle Kathy would say about the ANC’s new racial quota law.”
Steenhuisen said that the law, which Ramaphosa signed a few weeks ago, applied to any workplace with more than 50 employees.
“It sets quotas for every workplace, in every economic sector, in every province, throughout this entire country.
“And while the ANC tries to call these quotas ‘targets’, we know that they are, in fact, forced quotas. Because if companies don’t comply, they are severely punished. Businesses can be fined up to 10% of their annual turnover.
“And they will be cut off from all government business,” said the DA leader.
He added that, should the Act be promulgated into law, the number of Indian people working in skilled positions would be reduced.
“Right here in KZN, the ANC wants to limit the share of Indian people working in skilled positions at every company in the retail industry in this province to 3.6% for men and 3.1% for women.
“Now tell me: how many people in this room knows of a business in Chatsworth where more than 3.6% of the workforce is of Indian descent?” Steenhuisen asked.
“If we let this law stand, every one of those businesses can be driven into bankruptcy through fines and punishment from the government.
“Thousands of men and women in this community will lose their jobs. Children who are currently studying to become skilled professionals will be doomed to unemployment because they have the ‘wrong’ skin colour.
“Even more of our children will emigrate, and skills will flee the country. And it’s not only Chatsworth. And it’s not only Indian South Africans.”
The DA leader called for a defiance campaign that would see communities reject the Act.
“Let us launch a new defiance campaign that sweeps away the ANC and its new Group Areas Act. On Wednesday, let’s begin a new wave that will sweep the DA into the Union Buildings in 2024,” he said.
Steenhuisen’s campaign in the area comes a week after Ramaphosa, along with the ANC national working committee, launched a campaign in Chatsworth ahead of the by-elections.
Ramaphosa promised more service delivery, saying police visibility was important in the country’s fight against crime.
He also promised Chatsworth residents that the government was working on rooting out crime in the area and ensuring their safety.
“We are faced with big challenges, crime, and we are now focusing on fighting crime.
“I have said to the Minister of Police that we need to focus on crime prevention so that in the areas where you live, police should be able to be there, present and visible so that we can prevent acts of criminality.”
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