Some 300 job hunters swamped the premises of Barcelo’s in the new Makhado Crossing Shopping centre on Tuesday, hoping that they would be chosen for one of the 14 advertised vacancies.

The mad dash by the crowd was apparently brought about after it was decided to advertise the vacancies over the radio.

Barcelos’s franchise owner, Dr Rendani Mashapha, was shocked to see the huge crowd converge at the store to hand in their CVs for possible employment. He said he did not anticipate that so many people would try and apply.

Things got slightly out of hand at one stage when job hunters who handed in the CVs refused to leave the premises until their CVs had been looked at and an appointment with them had been confirmed. Fearing the possible outbreak of a riot and damage to vehicles and property, the mall management and Mr Johan Boshoff, manager for Fedility’s security, called in the help of the police. The police arrived, but still the crowd refused to leave.

Out of desperation, the management of Barcelos’s head office later started handing back most of the CV’s in an attempt to get them to leave. Slowly but surely this tactic started to work and people finally starting walking away.

The whole incident once again put the emphasis on the desperate plight of jobless people.