COSATU to deal with racist attackers  

COSATU is outraged at the racist attacks that have been taking place against workers in historically White areas in the Western Cape.  COSATU condemns these assaults on workers on their way to work by members of those mainly White communities. These people launching the attacks clearly think that these areas still belong to them. The fact that they can act in such a racist way, as the people attacked were Black and the attackers were White, is a testament to the deepening racist attitudes in the Western Cape.

COSATU will hunt down and deal with the perpetrators in their own way as this racist behaviour appears to be condoned by the Premier who does nothing to condemn these attacks. The Courts also only give the perpetrators of these acts a slap on the wrist and that is why they think that they can act with impunity. COSATU will be fighting this racism in kind, with an eye for an eye and will make citizens arrests of the perpetrators.

COSATU calls on all its members and workers to report these types of acts directly to COSATU, so that we can make an example of one. The Western Cape is part of South Africa and not some racist enclave where the generational advantages and attitudes of apartheid are allowed to flourish. This racism must be dealt with decisively if we are to end this type of continued abuse of Black people by sections of the White communities.

Statement issued by Tony Ehrenreich, COSATU Western Cape provincial secretary, November 12 2014

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