Domestic tells of race slurs, assault

An unidentified domestic worker. File picture: Dumisani Dube

An unidentified domestic worker. File picture: Dumisani Dube

Published Jun 11, 2014

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Cape Town - A domestic worker has poor health after allegedly being assaulted and sworn at by her employer's boyfriend, the Cape Town Magistrate's Court heard on Wednesday.

Gloria Kente, 50, testified in cross-examination that the incident with Andre van Deventer, at their home in Table View last June, had caused her stress.

"He was the one who causes me to stress. I am not happy. I am a k*****r and a thief. I am lazy. When he sees me, he sees absolutely nothing," she said in Xhosa.

"That's making my high blood pressure to go skyrocketing (sic) and my doctor saw that."

Van Deventer is on trial on charges of common assault and crimen injuria.

Henry van der Westhuizen, for Van Deventer, put a different cause of her high blood pressure to her.

"(Your employer) Mariechin Pienaar will testify that your health issues are due to you being overweight and unhealthy," the lawyer said.

Kente said her doctor had never told her she was overweight. She started hyperventilating and the court adjourned quickly so she could drink water.

The lawyer said Pienaar would testify that the whole family had started eating healthier meals and stopped buying red meat to help her health.

Kente said she had never eaten healthy foods at the house and that one look in their fridge today would show red meat.

She earlier described what happened after she asked Van Deventer to look after Pienaar's child while she took a shower at the end of the workday.

While in the bathroom, she said she heard Van Deventer shouting that they were "paying this k****r R2 400 to look after the child".

Kente said she left the bathroom and asked him whether he was speaking about her, which he confirmed.

"Andre came to me whilst I was standing in my room door. He grabbed my pyjamas in front of my chest and said he hated a k****r. Then he said 'I hate you as well, Gloria'. Then he spitted (sic) in my face," she said.

"That's when he mentioned that there are black people throwing kaka at the airport. We are not the ones who are going to be cleaning that. That's when I broke loose from him and didn't do anything at all."

Kente demonstrated how she took her hands and forced Van Deventer's grip loose by pushing back.

"He further mentioned that these k*****s stole their land and he wishes that (former president Nelson) Mandela died in hospital."

Van der Westhuizen said Pienaar and Van Deventer would both testify to a different version that never included assault.

He said Pienaar had heard Kente and her boyfriend shouting at each other and she broke up the fight.

Afterwards, she went into Kente's room to see if she was okay and had told her to ignore him because he had been drinking.

Kente denied this version and said Pienaar had stayed in her bedroom instead of intervening and could thus not testify as to what she had seen.

Le Roux postponed the trial until June 25.

Kente has also applied to the Equality Court in Cape Town for R100 000 in damages and an unconditional apology from Van Deventer.

The equality case was expected to be heard next month.

 

Sapa

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