The doctor and the doorman

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Published Sep 11, 2014

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Carmel Rickard examines a shocking case of cultural stereotyping involving a Nigerian doctor.

All those jokes about Nigerian drug dealers and shysters – don’t translate them into an anti-Nigerian workplace or business policy or you could find yourself in big trouble.

Nigerian doctor Anderson Anyikwa, employed by the Department of Health at Livingstone Hospital, Port Elizabeth, was not amused when he was barred from a restaurant in 2010 by a bouncer who declared that Nigerians were not welcome.

Ironically, it later emerged that the bouncer himself was Nigerian, though apparently his employers didn’t know.

Anyikwa had taken himself off to the Cubano Latino Café on the beachfront one mid-winter evening after he’d heard good reviews from friends.

As he reached the eatery he noticed a senior medical colleague there with a party of friends. The colleague, identified only as “Dr Smith”, greeted him and the two walked together to the entrance.

There they met doorman Ike Enwere, and that’s when the trouble began. Anyikwa’s version, accepted by Judge Jeremy Pickering, was that Enwere asked Anyikwa where he was from and then said he couldn’t let him in as Nigerians weren’t allowed. Smith intervened. He explained to the court that as a coloured man he had experienced discrimination in the past and found it completely unacceptable.

Smith told Enwere he knew Anyikwa, a medical doctor, and that they were colleagues. He could “vouch for the fact that (he) didn’t sell drugs”. Enwere was unmoved: he had strict instructions not to allow Nigerians into the restaurant.

Anyikwa went to the Humewood police station and reported what had happened. Two police officers returned with him to the eatery. The doorman called some people, including Nadia van Molldendorff, who said she was part of the management team.

From this point things are confusing because some of the witnesses testified that Anyikwa’s problem wasn’t his nationality – but dress code. This was later discounted by the judge who said Enwere’s description of Anyikwa’s dress could not be believed: he described him as wearing a T-shirt, jeans and tackies.

Anyikwa, Smith and one of the police officers both contradicted this. It was winter said Anyikwa, and he was wearing “a shirt with a collar, a roll-neck jersey, a smart pair of long trousers and a pair of black ‘Italian shoes’.” He added that the incident was “deeply humiliating and insulting” to himself and other law-abiding Nigerians.

Smith, a specialist anaesthetist and an associate professor, said he heard the bouncer telling Anyikwa he couldn’t go in because no Nigerians were allowed. During the conversation Enwere also pointed to the “right of admission” sign and mentioned “dress code” without elaborating.

That, said Smith, made him check his own gear. Fortunately he had no problems: he was wearing “a pair of Woolworths trousers, a Woolworths zip-up jersey with a collar and a pair of slip-on brown shoes”. He also checked his colleague’s attire and concluded that he looked neat and comparable to other patrons being allowed in.

Van Molldendorff denied it was policy to keep Nigerians out. Most of the eatery’s clientele were black and a large proportion of these were Nigerian, she said.

The court found the version of Anyikwa and Smith more believable, partly because of the demeanour of Smith, described by the court as “an outstandingly good witness” who withstood “an extremely aggressive cross-examination with quiet dignity”.

Enwere on the other hand was defensive and evasive, while it emerged Van Mollendorff was quite unable to say what Anyikwa was wearing.

“There is a sartorial chasm” between what Enwere said Anyikwa was wearing and the clothing described by the police and Smith, said the court, with the probabilities overwhelmingly in favour of Anyikwa’s version. And if Anyikwa was properly dressed then the only plausible inference was that he was refused entry because he was a Nigerian.

Once this was proved the law prohibiting unfair discrimination kicked in and the court awarded Anyikwa R40 000. Judge Pickering also approved an unconditional apology in the media. Even if the lounge did not have a policy of discriminating against Nigerians, he said, it should apologise for the actions of its doorman.

And that’s why readers of two Port Elizabeth newspapers will shortly find an apology for certain hurtful, discriminatory events at the Cubano Latino Café over the time of the Soccer World Cup.

* Carmel Rickard is a legal affairs specialist. Email [email protected] or visit www.tradingplaces2night.co.za

** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Newspapers.

Cape Times

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