Johannesburg -
A high court judge has ordered three deputy sheriffs to apologise to domestic workers whom they referred to by their first names only, the Sunday Times reported.
Judge Tati Makgoka ordered the three officials to apologise after he noticed that they had referred to the three only as 'Bongiwe, a domestic worker,” “the domestic, Faith” and “Eliza, domestic worker”.
In each case, the descriptions were captured as part of proof of summons, when the domestic workers were handed summons to pass on to their employers.
Makgoka was hearing applications over unpaid bank debts in the motions court in Pretoria when he noticed the descriptions.
He said the descriptions harked back to a past where “adult African women and men were contemptuously referred to as girls and boys'“ and conjured up “deeply painful memories for the majority of the citizens of our country”.
The deputies had 15 days to verify the marital status and surnames of the three domestic workers; and to provide them with written apologies. - Sapa