The pressure group Mangaung Service Delivery Forum (MSDF) has sent a stern warning to illegal foreign nationals in Bloemfontein. They earlier said they will be marching to the municipality’s offices, the Department of Small Business Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (Destea), and the Premier’s Office to hand over their memorandum of demands.
They said they will then commence to the central business district (CBD) to picket and have night vigils from Wednesday until Friday. During yesterday’s planned march the chairperson of the MSDF, Potso Motoko, said they are planning to remove illegal foreign nationals from the CBD. He also called on the president of the country, Cyril Ramaphosa, to intervene as the province is faced with service delivery issues because of the corrupt officials who are in leadership positions.
“We demand from our government, to make sure that foreign nationals, who don’t have permits to operate businesses in our townships, our CBDs, and complexes, to leave our country. We also want them to pack their drugs and illicit products, we don’t want them anymore. We will continue with these protests for three days. We told them long before, your time is up, pack your stuff and go. Our people demand their jobs. We need the factories for our people. I am saying to you, we are starting today but we are not going to end this today,” adds Motoko.
He further said that the government must ensure that they remove illegal foreigners who are running businesses around Mangaung.
Motoko also reiterated that should the Office of the President and local government fail to respond to their demands, a total shutdown will follow. Motoko said that they had previously held meetings with various government officials who promised to deliver on the demands of the community but failed to implement what was agreed upon. He reiterated that this time they will not be taken for a ride.
Kekeletso Mosebetsi
