An open letter to Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi:

We, as the communities from Vhembe Communal Properties’ Association under Musina municipality, would like to approach you.

The Home Affairs Department is building a fence along the border with Zimbabwe, close to our communities. It is called “The Magwa Border Fence Project”.

Our communities are at the Zimbabwean boundary under Vhembe, which represents seven villages – Bennde Mutale, Tshikuyu, Masisi, Tshedzhelani, Gumbu, Sigonde and Madimbo.

We want the department to stop the project and restart it only when most of the unskilled workers on the project are from our communities.

Nobody from our communities has been employed on the project. Our communities are poor, with high levels of youth unemployment. It is only fair that our communities enjoy some of the job opportunities.

It is clear that the contractor did not want to employ people from our communities.

This is evident because:

1. The contractor, Magwa construction, sent us a message on March 24, announcing that those who needed a job should submit their CVs by March 25. The short notice was deliberate so that none of us was able to apply.

2. In the message advertising the job opportunities, we were told that we should submit our application via email. The contractor knows full well that we do not have access to email and therefore couldn’t apply.

3. We were surprised that the contractor communicated the message via our councillor. Our traditional leaders were not consulted. There is too much secrecy regarding the project. It should have been announced to the communities with enough time to make them aware of the details, including how long it would take and the job opportunities.
The only information we have comes from the media. It was reported that the minister said about R40 million was budgeted for the project.

The project would take three weeks, which came as a shock to us. Why the secrecy? Why the hurry to carry out the project during lockdown? Why not wait until afterwards? During lockdown, the police prevent us from going to see what is happening with the project? Is the border fence an essential service or there is something so fishy about it that they are trying to hide it from us? We would like clarity from the Department of Home Affairs, the municipality and the Department of Rural Development about the progress.

Again, we ask that the project be stopped so that we have enough time to submit our job applications. They should allow us to submit our job applications by hand, not by email, and at a place that is convenient for us.

We support the border fence because it is good for our security. But there should be a partnership between the government and our communities. Our communities should be involved in job opportunities.