ArticlesLabour pain innie Plain: NCC says minister is ‘talking k@k’
There was high drama at the Portlands Indoor Centre on Friday when Employment and Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi engaged with the residents of Mitchells Plain.
Nxesi’s visit came after President Cyril Ramaphosa in April amended the Employment Equity Act (EE).
At the same time, a pop-up office was set up to assist people with filling out job seeker forms, making UIF queries, labour relation matters and compensation fund complaints.
However, his visit was overshadowed by the National Coloured Congress (NCC), whose leader Fadiel Adams told Nxesi to “stop talking k@k” to people.
Nxesi was answering questions by residents regarding issues they are experiencing with the services offered by his department in Mitchells Plain.
He said government regarded coloureds as black, saying we are living in “an Irish coffee society”.
But, this enraged Adams who stormed out of the venue, shouting: “These are the victims, not the elements, stop talking k@k.”
Speaking to the media outside the venue, a kwaad Adams said: “It’s the same yada yada from a different person. We will see the minister six months before the next election again.”
The NCC has been agitating for businesses to employ people from the same communities in order to address the high unemployment rate on the Cape Flats.
The NCC previously shut down the Clocktower BP garage in Lentegeur, saying that there were more black than coloured employees.
Adams added: “We are gatvol of the lies. This man is here to sell hope, they don’t care about coloured lives, they care about coloured votes.”
During Nxesi’s speech, several residents like Chanelle Adams also walked out.
“After I listened to his conversation, it had nothing to do with our people or Mitchells Plain,” she added.
Channelle said she completed a job seeker form, adding: “I’ll see if I get a callback or an interview after this. Our people turn to a life of crime and drugs because we don’t receive any opportunities.”
According to the latest stats, the Western Cape has the lowest unemployment rate in the country at 20.9%.
At a press conference after the event, Nxesi accused Adams of trying to “advertise” his party by disrupting the event.
“It was clear from the onset that theirs was a disruptive agenda. People were coming to sell their organisation, but unfortunately, they received more attention than the content that is being debated,” Nxesi said. “A lot of people accepted what I was saying.”
He said more community engagements will take place in the future.
The Employment Equity Amendments were signed into law by the President in April 2023, the objective being to reduce the regulatory burden for small employers and to empower the Minister to regulate the sector specific numerical EE targets, among others.