Fired for bringing March and March to bar, says former manager

A bar manager in uMdloti, north of Durban, claims he was fired after he became an anti-migrant activist.

Speaking on the sidelines of a March and March demonstration in Pinetown, west of Durban on Thursday, Siboniso Gumede said his former employer fired him after accusing him of being a trouble-maker.

Gumede, who worked at the bar in the upmarket tourist town, said his former employer, who also owns a popular Durban beachfront pub, accused him of bringing the anti-migrant protest to his business premises.

March and March activists have reported being victimised by employers and law enforcement, and also claim to be receiving death threats.

“After a visit by March and March to my employer’s business, my employer called me and said he thought we needed to part ways as I was bringing trouble to his business,” said Gumede.

He said the group visited his former workplace after he had informed them that his employer was hiring foreigners.

“I asked my former boss why he was hiring foreign nationals because what they were doing was not a scarce job. I think that is when the problem started,” he said.

Gumede vowed that he would continue with the organisation’s mandate until their mission was accomplished.

On Thursday, March and March leader Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma and Nkosikhona “Phakel’umthakathi” Ndabandaba led a group of about 1,000 people in Pinetown.

This was the first time Ngobese-Zuma and “Phakel’umthakathi” had led a march together in the wake of an alleged feud between the two following his closed meeting with President Cyril Ramaphosa a day before the national protest action on June 30.

Ramaphosa had also invited another activist, Ngizwe Mchunu, to the meeting, fuelling speculation he was trying to create division between the various drivers of the national movement.

Speaking after the June 30 march in Durban, Ngobese-Zuma said they would continue their demonstrations every Thursday to put pressure on illegal foreigners who had not yet left the country.

Many roads were closed in Pinetown during the march on Thursday, which brought traffic to a standstill.

Among the 1,000-strong crowd were dozens of delivery bike drivers who alleged that local drivers were being overlooked for employment.

They handed over a memorandum to a Pinetown-based outsourcing company which provides workers to various retailers.

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