'There is racism in this institution'
31 October 2009, 18:24
Protesting Cosatu members broke through a steel barrier at Sun City near Rustenburg on Saturday.
The barrier is put in place to prevent them from gaining entry to the hotel's main gate during their protest march.
"We are not going to hand over the memorandum here, we want to hand it over there at the main gate," said North West provincial secretary Solly Phetoe before the protesters broke the barrier.
Public order police managed to keep the crowd under control.
The entrance to the hotel was blocked until the memorandum was handed over.
"There is racism in this institution. The worst they did was to insult our international leader, our father (former president) Nelson Mandela," Phetoe said, referring to an incident in which Mandela was referred to as a "k****r".
"With Nelson Mandela, we are not going to compromise," he said.
About 1000 Cosatu members in Moses Kotane took to the streets to protest racism and working conditions at Sun International Resort.
Key to the protest was an allegation that an employee of a security company had played a music CD with lyrics referring to Mandela as a "k****r" and former president Thabo Mbeki as a "baboon".
Phetoe said Sun City must terminate the contract of Falcon Security, whose employee allegedly played the CD.
"If they do not agree, we will protest at their concert and the million dollar golf tournament."
Phetoe said racism was rife at Sun City, to an extent that African workers were subjected to polygraph tests while their white counterparts were not subjected to the tests.
Cosatu also wanted the immediate dismissal of a white supervisor who allegedly told two workers that they smell like baboons.
She allegedly told them that they should bath, and if they could not afford deodorants he would gladly buy it for them.
In the memorandum, Cosatu alleged that one worker, Debra Danke, was locked in a room with snakes after she was accused of stealing money from a hotel room.
She was locked with snakes after a polygraph test cleared her of the theft.
The union alleged blacks were dismissed for petty issues, while whites escaped with warnings in serious cases.
Cosatu also alleged that a white employee nonprocedurally took goods amounting to R2 million out of the resort to his place in Swartruggens and was only given a warning.
Kurt Peter, divisional manager at the resort, who received the memorandum on behalf of Sun City and Sun International said they rejected any form of racism.
"We are waiting timeously to eradicate racism and we challenge Cosatu to work with us to uproot racism," he said.
He explained that comprehensive investigations were being conducted into the alleged insult on Mandela.
He said a manager at Falcon Security had been fired in connection with the incident and another was on suspension.
Cosatu threatened to lobby Fifa not to use Sun International facilities during the 2010 soccer world cup. "We will request the international world not to do business with Sun International if they don't stop racism," said Phetoe.
Cosatu in the Western Cape had also threatened to launch an offensive campaign against Sun International hotels in the province, namely Grand West Casino and Table Bay Hotel.
North West Cosatu said if their were grievances were not responded to by Monday they would mobilise internationally for sanctions against Sun International. - Sapa
The barrier is put in place to prevent them from gaining entry to the hotel's main gate during their protest march.
"We are not going to hand over the memorandum here, we want to hand it over there at the main gate," said North West provincial secretary Solly Phetoe before the protesters broke the barrier.
Public order police managed to keep the crowd under control.
The entrance to the hotel was blocked until the memorandum was handed over.
"There is racism in this institution. The worst they did was to insult our international leader, our father (former president) Nelson Mandela," Phetoe said, referring to an incident in which Mandela was referred to as a "k****r".
"With Nelson Mandela, we are not going to compromise," he said.
About 1000 Cosatu members in Moses Kotane took to the streets to protest racism and working conditions at Sun International Resort.
Key to the protest was an allegation that an employee of a security company had played a music CD with lyrics referring to Mandela as a "k****r" and former president Thabo Mbeki as a "baboon".
Phetoe said Sun City must terminate the contract of Falcon Security, whose employee allegedly played the CD.
"If they do not agree, we will protest at their concert and the million dollar golf tournament."
Phetoe said racism was rife at Sun City, to an extent that African workers were subjected to polygraph tests while their white counterparts were not subjected to the tests.
Cosatu also wanted the immediate dismissal of a white supervisor who allegedly told two workers that they smell like baboons.
She allegedly told them that they should bath, and if they could not afford deodorants he would gladly buy it for them.
In the memorandum, Cosatu alleged that one worker, Debra Danke, was locked in a room with snakes after she was accused of stealing money from a hotel room.
She was locked with snakes after a polygraph test cleared her of the theft.
The union alleged blacks were dismissed for petty issues, while whites escaped with warnings in serious cases.
Cosatu also alleged that a white employee nonprocedurally took goods amounting to R2 million out of the resort to his place in Swartruggens and was only given a warning.
Kurt Peter, divisional manager at the resort, who received the memorandum on behalf of Sun City and Sun International said they rejected any form of racism.
"We are waiting timeously to eradicate racism and we challenge Cosatu to work with us to uproot racism," he said.
He explained that comprehensive investigations were being conducted into the alleged insult on Mandela.
He said a manager at Falcon Security had been fired in connection with the incident and another was on suspension.
Cosatu threatened to lobby Fifa not to use Sun International facilities during the 2010 soccer world cup. "We will request the international world not to do business with Sun International if they don't stop racism," said Phetoe.
Cosatu in the Western Cape had also threatened to launch an offensive campaign against Sun International hotels in the province, namely Grand West Casino and Table Bay Hotel.
North West Cosatu said if their were grievances were not responded to by Monday they would mobilise internationally for sanctions against Sun International. - Sapa
Pretoria
