Johannesburg - A young businesswoman is in dispute with a Transnet depot over the cancellation of her gardening services contract via a WhatsApp message.
The 26-year-old Vosloorus owner of Lazy Bones, Mbali Mazibuko, had signed two contracts of two years each with the depot for cleaning and gardening in October 2016.
But in January 2017, the company’s procurement officer told her via WhatsApp that her contract had been cancelled, and four of her employees were left jobless.
“We got a text from him saying the gardening contract was terminated but we were never given a valid reason. We went to report the matter to management but were told there was nothing they could do.”
A forensic investigation was allegedly done on the matter and it was found that the procurement officer was in the wrong, and Lazy Bones had not done anything wrong.
“The correct procedure was not followed by one of our employees when the gardening purchase order was cancelled,” said Transnet Pipelines spokesperson Saret Knoetze.
According to Knoetze, the normal procedure for the company was to interact with the service providers on service delivery concerns, provide guidance where required, and terminate the contract if there is a failure to improve.
Lazy Bones hired four employees for gardening and one for cleaning. Phumlani Hadebe, a gardener, told The Star that he had a difficult time finding permanent employment after the sudden cancellation of the contract.
“It was very difficult. I had to go from one job to the next and there wasn’t stability,” he said.
Hadebe said his mother, a niece and nephews were dependent on his income and, according to him, after the cancellation he couldn’t pay his rent and was evicted.
“I don’t know what’s going on with Transnet because we’re told that the youth are lazy, but here we are trying to do something, and then what happens with that?” asked Mazibuko.
Knoetze said that after Mazibuko brought the WhatsApp cancellation to their attention, an internal investigation was conducted, and during the investigation, the procurement officer resigned.
Lazy Bones’ cleaning contract completed its full term, which ended in September last year.
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