A Dis-Chem employee has alleged that he and 42 of his colleagues were hospitalised on 10 April at Tembisa Hospital after eating chicken which was apparently not suitable for human consumption.
The employees allegedly fell ill after they ate chicken supplied by the company’s feeding scheme during their work shift lunch period. It is not yet confirmed if the feeding scheme is outsourced or if it’s an internal operation of the company.
The employee, who wished to remain anonymous out of fear of being targeted as troublesome, said his colleagues started to fall ill at different times. “One person fell ill within minutes after they ate the chicken while other took even up to four hours to start reacting,” he alleged.
“One of my colleagues said he noticed that there was something wrong when he peed some drops of blood, but I started having heavy diarrhoea hours later. We asked our manager to take us to the hospital but he refused and told us that we are too many, therefore taking us to the hospital will be a waste of the company’s money.”
He alleged that the employees eventually had to contact the ambulances themselves.
Brian Epstein, the operations director at Dis-Chem, has confirmed that there were rumours involving 42 employees who allegedly became ill but said he could not comment on the incident at the moment because the company was currently holding internal investigations to verify the authenticity of the rumours and damning allegations.
This comes in the wake of Dis-Chem employees affiliated to the National Union of Public Service and Allied Workers recently striking in which some employees were suspended for violating picketing rules during the strike.
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