Cape Town - A senior employee at a major marine company has been accused of telling an employee “not to conduct himself like a k****r”.
This emerged in a case before the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA), in which Western Cape regional manager of Compass Group, Derek Swan,has been accused of hate speech.
It is alleged he told cook/steward Ashwin Piers he “should not conduct himself like a k****r”, and “the country is already messed up”.
The Compass Group owns and operates Mafuta, a ship operating under contract to Debmarine Namibia.
Piers was fired this month for alleged misconduct, including suspicion of being drunk on company premises.
Piers’s hate speech allegations were first presented as part of his defence at his disciplinary hearing. The record states only that “his statement was not related to the issue at hand”.
Piers’s statement was included in the documents related to the CCMA case, in which he accuses Swan of discrimination. “I was subjected to discrimination by Mr Derek Swan of the Compass Group, in which he uttered the following words - I must not conduct myself like a k****r, the country is already messed up and Pik Botha told us to f**k them up.”
Piers, who worked for the company from February 2012, alleged Swan made the comments after his repeated questions about salary grievances, his request for medical reports he required to claim compensation and for the company to bear hospital expenses for an injury he allegedly sustained in May while on duty on the Mafuta.
CCMA documents showed Piers was dismissed on July 7 after a disciplinary inquiry where he faced a charge of “arriving at work (office) under the influence of intoxicating substances”.
Swan referred queries to the company’s Joburg office.
Compass SA’s general counsel, Arlene Hearshaw, said: “Compass Group Southern Africa (including its ESS division) expects all its employees, customers and clients to be treated with respect and we set high ethical and professional standards. As this matter is subject to ongoing legal proceedings, we are not able to comment further at this time, other than to state that Compass Group Southern Africa is vigorously defending the allegations made by Mr Piers.”
At the CCMA hearing on Thursday, chaired by commissioner Shahida Mohamed, Piers asked for the matter be referred for arbitration after an agreement could not be reached.
The SA Human Rights Commission said last month more than 200 cases of alleged racism had been registered with it this year.
Weekend Argus