Earlier this year Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize confirmed that restaurant workers will be vaccinated in stage 2 of the rollout.
For the purposes of vaccination, restaurant workers are classed as “persons in congregate settings”, a designation that recognises the additional risks they face in their line of work.
This came as a relief to restaurant workers, whose livelihoods depend on interacting with the public on a daily basis.
Excited that today all his employees were fully vaccinated, Angelo Zachariades who runs Mozambik in Menlyn Park shopping centre in Pretoria took to his Twitter page to announce that he is very proud, but little did he know his post would receive a backlash.
“I am very, very proud to say that as of today every single employee at our restaurant is fully vaccinated and have their vaccine certificates downloaded on their phones. We didn't have a single issue and the whole process was approached in a mature, rational manner by all,” wrote Zachariades.
I am very, very proud to say that as of today every single employee at our restaurant is fully vaccinated and have their vaccine certificates downloaded on their phones
— Angelo Zack (@OldManZack) October 15, 2021
We didn’t have a single issue and the whole process was approached in a mature, rational manner by all
🤗
The backlash came after South African actor Brandon Auret responded in a quote tweet asking, “What restaurant so we can avoid it??”
What restaurant so we can avoid it?? https://t.co/TnQLf5jJNV
— Brandon (@BrandonAuret) October 17, 2021
In a follow-up tweet Zachariades noted the “thread” and how people vow to boycott his restaurant because his staff and himself are vaccinated.
This is a thread of people vowing to boycott my restaurant because my staff and I are vaccinated.
— Angelo Zack (@OldManZack) October 17, 2021
I need a sociologist to explain this phenomenon to me. https://t.co/XWg1Kf4trB
“This is a thread of people vowing to boycott my restaurant because my staff and I are vaccinated. I need a sociologist to explain this phenomenon to me,” he wrote.
“If your staff are all vaccinated and anti-vaxxers are boycotting then you're running the safest restaurant on Earth. Put that on a billboard,” wrote one user.
Another user wrote: “I honestly don't understand the rhetoric of the people who want to boycott you and your restaurant because of this choice. It's the same with those who want to boycott the unvaxxed. It's really not going to make a difference to them.”
Zachariades said after he tweeted threats came in with some people saying they know where he lives but at the same time there was a flood of support from hundreds of people who told him that they will be supporting the restaurant making it fully booked for this weekend because of the attackers.
“If I have to live my life on what I can say or cannot say, it's not worth living. Many people fought for the freedom of free speech. So, if they wanted to boycott the restaurant they could do so,” he said.