Johannesburg - Making use of muti or traditional rituals to threaten a colleague could get you fired from your job.
This comes after a man was dismissed from his job after he used muti to intimidate a fellow employee, and his dismissal upheld by the National Bargaining Council for the Sugar Manufacturing and Refining Industry.
The matter was recently decided at the National Bargaining Council for the Sugar Manufacturing and Refining Industry.
Louis Mngomezulu, a previous employee of Tongaat Hulett Sugar, working at its KwaZulu-Natal-based Darnall Sugar Mill, was accused of using witchcraft to intimidate the company’s HR manager, Khanyo Nxele.
Nxele had found a gummy substance on the door-handle of her car and behind one of its wheels. The car was parked at the workplace at the time.
After she reviewed the footage, which clearly showed Mngomezulu as the only person near the car at the time, he was charged with placing Nxele’s safety, health and life at risk by placing the substance near her car.
By doing so, Hulett believed Mngomezulu’s intention was, through the practice and belief in witchcraft, to cause her spiritual, mental or physical harm.
He was charged with breaching the relationship of trust and good faith between him and his employer and was dismissed.
Mngomezulu, a shop steward for the National Sugar Refining and Allied Workers' Union, had denied using witchcraft at the time and said he was in the vicinity of the car to fetch his overalls.
When the matter was brought to the council, after Mngomezulu was dismissed, the key issue was whether he placed the substance to cause Nxele harm.
The commissioner Karen Charles found the company was justified in dismissing him due to his use of “reprehensible behaviour” in attempting to use a shared belief system to intimidate a colleague.
“This is unacceptable in any workplace and will most definitely break down a relationship of trust and cordiality that exists between the employer and employee and between an employee and his colleagues,” said the commissioner.
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Irvin Lawrence, director of employment at ENSafrica - which represented Tongaat Hulett - says the case recognises that even though certain beliefs are culturally specific, employers must be cognisant of them.
“Cultural sensitivity and tolerance were key features in this case. Not just muti, but traditional medicine has conventionally been stereotypically dismissed by employers.”
Lawrence adds the decision makes employees aware of what constitutes unacceptable behaviour in the workplace and that they must not expect to technically avoid culpability.
LABOUR BUREAU