Gauteng restaurant raids: 5 arrested in Sandton, 3 in Pretoria court

Raids at Gauteng-based restaurants are continuing amid claims of unfair labour practices.

Conducted by the provincial Department of Employment and Labour, with assistance from police and Home Affairs, the operation led to four arrests in Pretoria on Sunday. In a separate incident in Sandton yesterday, five people, including a human resources manager, were nabbed.

Pretoria Rekord reports that one of the four people arrested during an operation at Babel and Ocean Basket restaurants in Menlyn Mall, Pretoria East, is expected in court again today. Two other accused are scheduled to appear tomorrow and on October 2 respectively, while the fourth, Babel restaurant manager Raui Kobeissi (42), was released at the Brooklyn Police Station after he paid a R10 000 admission of guilt fine.

National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana says Emery Niyomuremyi (35) from Burundi, Amina Lameck (34) from Malawi and Kelechi Maduike (38) from Nigeria face charges of being in the country illegally. They made their first appearance in the Hatfield Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.

Mahanjana adds that Lameck, who is employed as a chef, and Maduike, who is employed as a stock manager, work at Babel, while Niyomuremyi works at Ocean Basket as a deliveryman. It is unclear which employee will appear in court today.

Latest arrests

Sandton Chronicle reports that yesterday, four employees from a restaurant in Sandton, as well as the brand’s human resources manager, were arrested for not having work permits or valid documents to be in the country.

When Adv Michael Msiza, the department’s provincial inspector from the Office of Occupational Health and Safety, arrived at the scene, he said three of the five restaurants visited during the operation were not paying their employees appropriately.

“The restaurants pay their waiters and waitresses in tips and commissions, which contravenes the National Minimum Wage Act (NMWA) 9 of 2018,” Msiza added, specifying that the minimum wage for waitrons is R28.76.

Sandton Chronicle was unable to establish from the police or NPA when these five employees will appear in court.

Pretoria restaurant refutes claims

Pretoria Rekord previously reported that the two restaurants found guilty of labour violations had been given 14 days to pay over R1.3m owed in wages and comply with legal labour practices.

The labour department confirmed the timeline. Thobeka Magcai, the spokesperson for the minister of Labour and Employment, said the employers had contravened the Basic Conditions of Employment Act 75 of 1997 and the NMWA 9 of 2018.

However, Ocean Basket has refuted claims that their Menlyn branch hires undocumented foreigners and that they engage in unfair labour practices.

“We have spent the last 24 hours investigating the Menlyn Ocean Basket branch using an independent labour lawyer, internal auditors, as well as an accounting firm,” reads a statement issued by the brand.

The statement adds that after hours of thorough scrutiny, Ocean Basket found:

• There are no illegal foreigners currently employed at Ocean Basket Menlyn, and this has been confirmed by the Department of Home Affairs, which visited on Sunday.
• All staff receive their monthly wages, tips and commissions as per their employment contracts.
• No money is currently owed to any staff members.
• Their practices comply with the South African labour legislation.
• Absolutely no contact has been made, or documentation supplied, to Ocean Basket by the department of labour as evidence of where they got the figures released to media, and neither have they been asked for co-operation in resolving this.
• Ocean Basket has been referred to personnel at the department but no one has answered any questions or agreed to meet or supply the evidence supporting these figures.

“Our call to action is to ask the department of labour to join us at the table and work together to understand what has taken place here,” reads the statement.

Ocean Basket says they are concerned that the department issued a statement without first discussing the findings with the establishment.

“These actions have had a detrimental effect on our brand’s credibility and reputation.”