NEWS & ANALYSIS

"Our boobs for a job!" – Daily Sun

"This is how desperate we are for work, say protesting women" – front page lead, September 2 2015

Daily Sun (September 2 2015 ) – FOR YEARS they have been promised jobs but they are still unemployed.

So this time they took their protest to a different level – by exposing their breasts in public.

WHAT THEY WANTED TO SHOW BOSSES WAS THAT THEY ARE SERIOUS ABOUT GETTING JOBS!

So yesterday residents of Mokopane, Limpopo once again protested outside the Mogalakwena Platinum Mine. As always they chanted and danced and barricaded the road with burning tyres – knowing in their hearts that once again the mine bosses would not listen to them.

So they spiced up their march by stripping off their shirts and underwear! With their breasts exposed and chanting in front of the burning tyres they hope the management will realise how badly they need jobs. A lady with her breasts exposed shouted: “Perhaps if they see our bodies they will listen to us. We are sick and tired of their empty promises!”

The police at the protest were ready to fire rubber bullets to disperse the crowd, but they came to a standstill when they saw the chanting women remove their top coverings from their bodies. The women told Daily Sun they acted as they did for the sake of their children.

The striking communities claim they will not stop protesting until they get a positive response from the mine. Jacob Mphofu (40) said: “They are right next to our village. They must make us their first priority. They make a lot of money on our land but we still do not have work. They must give us jobs!”

Mphofu said they had sent many memorandums in previous years and had also held protests, but the management had never even bothered to reply. All the roads leading into the mine were barricaded and last night some of the mine’s equipment, including vehicles, was burned.

Colonel Ronel Otto of the Limpopo police confirmed that mine equipment had been damaged and burned, including vehicles.

“Police are at the protest to calm the protesters and nine people have been arrested for public violence,” Otto said.

See the Daily Sun’s new website for more on this and other stories....


The Daily Sun is South Africa's largest daily newspaper with an average circulation of 274 165 (Audit Bureau of Circulations 2nd Quarter 2014) and a readership of 5.7m (as per AMPS 2012ab). Its Facebook page can be accessed here. It can be followed on Twitter here. To find about advertising on the Daily Sun click here.

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