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Bitter taste: Malema hops onto anti-foreigner band-wagon

Bitter taste: Malema hops onto anti-foreigner band-wagon
MIDRAND, SOUTH AFRICA - JANUARY 19: Members of Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) visit restaurants at Mall of Africa on January 19, 2022 in Midrand, South Africa. The purpose of the visit was to check and assess the employment ratio of locals and foreign nationals. (Photo by Gallo Images/Alet Pretorius)
Ferial Haffajee
By Ferial Haffajee
19 Jan 2022
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While a South African migrant to the USA bequeaths R100-million to vaccine development, EFF leader Julius Malema and his henchmen terrorise restaurants that employ migrants.

As the South African-born pharma and philanthropist billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong endowed R100-million for genetic surveillance and vaccine manufacturing to the country, aggressive anti-migrant politics took hold. 

At exactly the moment Soon-Shiong and President Cyril Ramaphosa were unveiling this groundbreaking partnership, EFF leader Julius Malema was inspecting employee lists at restaurants at the Mall of Africa to see the ratio of foreign-born to local employees. 




Malema started at Kream restaurant, where the owner Tufan Yerebakan initially refused to meet the EFF but then gave in. After the meetings, Malema said business owners had agreed to a 50/50 staff split. EFF spokesperson Vuyani Pambo earlier told Radio 702 the party wanted a 60/40 ratio of locals to migrants.  

EFF supporters outside Kream restaurant at the Mall of Africa in Midrand where the party checked the employment split between locals and foreigners on 19 January 2022. (Photo: Gallo Images/Alet Pretorius)



At Ocean Basket in Menlyn, the EFF’s Obakeng Ramabodu met the manager and said the party was giving the restaurant two weeks to reverse its ratio of South Africans to migrant staff. He gave the manager instructions on numbers after perusing the staff list and ID or passport numbers. 

The EFF is responding to a populist army marching against African migrants. At Soweto on Sunday, Nhlanhla Lux of Operation Dudula and his followers removed foreign traders from the Bara taxi rank, according to News24. They misidentified some traders and evicted a few South African traders too. Lux is distributing a pamphlet calling for a day of action against foreigners on 22 January.



The next day, 18 January, the Patriotic Alliance combed through the Johannesburg City Council building, counting and threatening foreign-born staff. Party leader Gayton McKenzie amplified videos of young party activists shouting at council employees.  



McKenzie has deployed teams across the country who are confiscating expired goods from migrant-owned spaza and small shops. He has said 2022 will be the year of the campaign against migrants working in South Africa and the businesses that employ them.  

Julius Malema leaves Ponta restaurant after speaking to management as part of the EFF's bid to assess the number of foreigners working at the Mall of Africa in Midrand on 19 January 2022. (Photo: Gallo Images/Alet Pretorius)



The EFF and the Patriotic Alliance fish in the same political waters and McKenzie’s anti-foreigner campaigns have proven so popular among his constituency of unemployed and poor people that Malema is playing catch-up. But because he is a self-identified pan-Africanist, the EFF statements have projected its actions as protecting migrants who are exploited and paid less than South African workers.



The EFF said its restaurant visits were to “check labour policies, staff compliment (sic) and ensure that our fellow Africans are not being exploited and locals are employed at a satisfactory level”.



Julius Malema briefs the media during the EFF's visit to restaurants in the Mall of Africa on 19 January 2022. (Photo: Gallo Images/Alet Pretorius)



EFF members visit restaurants in the Mall of Africa on 19 January 2022 to find out how many foreigners are employed compared with locals. (Photo: Gallo Images/Alet Pretorius)



TimesLive reported that DA labour spokesperson Michael Cardo said “the idea that Julius Malema has the authority to impose himself on a private employer – armed like an apartheid-era labour inspector with a clipboard and a kit to conduct a kind of pencil test – is both laughable and dangerous”.  

Three judgments since 2018 have found against the EFF for interfering in workplaces. The party has ignored the court orders, which found that its workplace interference actions are illegal. 

Lux has been celebrated for his role in stopping the July 2021 rioting and looting through his movement, the Soweto Parliament, but since June 2021 he has issued threat after threat against African migrants trading or employed in Soweto.

Without naming the EFF, Labour and Employment Minister Thulas Nxesi said do-it-yourself inspections were ill-advised.  He said his department is finalising regulations to "deal with the employment of foreign workers in South Africa.  It is imperative to wait for the process to be completed rather than parties acting outside the law". He added: "Any violence in seeking to identify areas of noncompliance with the law is counterproductive to the principle of labour market stability and labour peace...(needed) to attract foreign investment." DM

At 5.55pm, this article was updated and the headline amended. 

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