Worcester: old friends split by 'racist' green dompas

Patrick Amos and Johnny Jooste share hunger pangs, and make the bush their undignified home in Worcester West, huddlinground the same fire to keep warm at night. But a controversial "green card" - issued by a sector of the Worcester community policing forum - has divided these friends.

For Amos, the card is "my gold", a passport to money in the Western Cape town. For Jooste, the card is simply a "dompas", and he cannot get work without it.

The card, likened to passes issued to black people during apartheid, has also divided the town. Racial tension is so high that a meeting to discuss the programme was called off on Thursday night, with the municipality announcing that it would intervene only once "clear heads, clear minds and clear hearts" are restored.

Amos will not change his mind even though national police commissioner General Riah Phiyega has ordered the withdrawal of the cards - which bear the police's insignia.

Amos said: "A lot of people break in here, then the boere [police] can't say it's me because I have this card. This means I am not a vuilgat [criminal]. This card is my life because I have a job."

  But Jooste claimed he had torn his card to shreds. "Those cards were handed out to us as if they were tags for dogs. They made it seem as if you only become a real man when you have one of those cards. Then only you are allowed to walk through the white area."

Amos and Jooste form part of a community of about 50 people living in squalor in the veld just metres from a middle-class, predominantly white, suburb. They have been there for more than 30 years, living without water, electricity and toilets. Last year their dogs were taken away.

Marieta Titus, a domestic worker, said: "A white oubaas and a bruin klonkie came to fetch my three dogs, Blackie, Balletjie and Wolverine. They said the dogs can make us sick. I was heartbroken. Then I saw Blackie for sale in the newspaper."

The residents claim they are being victimised by the authorities and their white neighbours, who allegedly follow them when they walk through the streets.

Neil Mercuur, manager in the office of Breede Valley municipality mayor Antoinette Steyn, said the office would "strive" to play a more active role in creating unity among the parties once the dust had settled.

"There is merit in what people were trying to do - that is, safeguard property and life. On the other hand, you have people who said we fought for the removal of apartheid and the right to be free," said Mercuur.

Independent ward councillors Colin Wilschut and Ciraj Ismail said that instead of issuing cards, police should focus on gang warfare. "Why issue cards when we are among the deadliest areas in the country?" Ismail asked.

Residents of Avian Park have also pleaded with traffic officials to man the pedestrian crossing on the busy R43 when children return from school.

When six-year-old Taegan Martin was run over by a truck on Thursday - the fourth child to die on the road this year, according to Wilschut - the community had enough. They closed down a section of the road with burning branches and bricks. Taegan's grandmother, a traffic officer, was dispatched to the scene. She was horrified to discover her grandson lying in the road.

When Steyn arrived to address the angry mob, she was pelted with abuse - "You don't care about us coloureds! F**k off" and "How many children have to die before you do something?"

Residents of Panorama - the predominantly white suburb at the centre of the controversy - this week expressed mixed feelings about the green card, which they said was not widely in use.

A retired resident said he believed the system was set up to help local farm workers who feared losing their jobs to foreigners. He said his longtime gardener did not have the card.

- Additional reporting by Bobby Jordan