The MK Party's labour desk has vowed to take over the running of the fresh produce market in Clairwood, Durban, if it wins enough votes in the 2026 local government elections.
The market is owned by the eThekwini municipality.
MK Party national co-ordinator Mthobisi Shinga was speaking after a march on Friday afternoon when the party handed over a memorandum of grievances to market management.
“Inside this building there are agents who are hiring illegal immigrants. The municipality should sit all agents down and tell them that South Africans are in dire need of jobs,” he said.
Several hundred MK Party supporters and unemployed people joined the march, some carrying placards and chanting struggle songs. Some businesses stayed closed.
It ensures that workers rights are respected through out the working class spectrum
Shinga said they were tired of undocumented foreigners “taking” jobs from South Africans.
In the memorandum the party said it had provided a platform to report human and labour rights violations and was aligned to the guiding principles of business and human rights.
“It ensures that workers rights are respected through out the working class spectrum,” said Shinga.
“We are gravely concerned about the allegations related to the working conditions that are discriminatory, unconstitutional and mostly inhuman which workers are subjected too because they are desperate, indigent and doing their best to provide for their families.”
He said companies plying their trade at the market should be compelled to pay a minimum wage and address the treatment of workers.
He called for workers to be provided with personal protective equipment (PPE).
“We know some of the workers inside the establishment do not have adequate PPE to protect them from the eventualities of being injured . Workers must not be subjected to a dangerous environment, ill health and lack of safety,” said Shinga. He reiterated calls to remove illegal foreigners.
“It’s a matter of urgency because if you prolong joblessness it would mean our people would continue to live in hunger.”
He said the turnout of marchers showed people were languishing in poverty and unemployment.
“If they were employed they would have been at work. You as a municipality have got to ensure these agents employ South Africans,” said Shinga.
A strong security presence including public order police, metro police and private security ensured the march was peaceful.
The memorandum was received by senior market manager Andre Young.
TimesLIVE
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