PE woman suspended for calling black colleagues ‘monkeys’

A woman working at a recruitment agency in Port Elizabeth has been suspended for using the slur “monkeys” to describe a colleague as well as his union representatives, HeraldLive has reported.

Sharnay Schwartz Scribante, a branch manager at Workforce Staffing, was caught out when her use of the racist description was recorded on a cellphone.

The recording of her using the slur is alleged to not have been the first time she used the term to refer to her black colleagues.

“All those monkeys are standing outside with Lerato. One of them apparently says he does not want to go to the meeting,” Scribante is alleged to say in the recording.

Scribante claimed not to know anything about the issue when contacted by HeraldLive, but her lawyer said they would issue a statement once they had heard the recording.

“I felt cold chills down my spine. She was not even provoked,” an anonymous colleague said.

READ MORE: Hot 91.9 FM fires DJ Sasha Martinengo for calling Malema ‘a monkey’

“It was a normal meeting, where she just called people monkeys.”

He added that staff members decided to record a meeting after she had been heard using the term before.

“It is very difficult to work here when someone regards you as a monkey. I could walk away but that would just leave my children hungry.We just want this exposed. The morale is now dead in this office,” he added.

Workforce Staffing managing director Sean Momberg confirmed the incident was being investigated.

“We distance ourselves from and condemn any forms of discrimination,” he said, and added that the issue would be dealt with “strictly” and that “sensitivity training” would be implemented.

This is the second incident of an employee being disciplined over the term “monkey” in the past week; the first involving celebrity DJ Sasha Martinengo.

READ MORE: Sasha Martinengo stands by his ‘monkey’ comment about Malema

Hot 91.9 FM has swiftly parted company with Martinengo, who led their breakfast team, after he also called EFF leader Julius Malema a monkey live on air.

In a statement posted on Facebook, the radio station said it had elected to remove Martinengo from all involvement with the radio station with immediate effect and issued an apology to Malema.

“This morning an unfortunate and completely unacceptable incident took place during the Breakfast Show whereby, during the course of the broadcast, a reference was made by anchor presenter, Sasha Martinengo, who said ‘[A]nd people still listen to this monkey,’ referring to Mr. Julius Malema,” the statement reads.

“The values of this radio station include a full and unconditional commitment to the South African Bill of Rights and an all-encompassing respect for all our community irrespective of their political point of view. The statement by the presenter violated the station’s code of conduct and its commitment to our national democratic values and furthermore is viewed in an extremely serious light,” it adds. “The station hereby issues a public apology to Mr. Malema and deeply regrets any adverse inference that the conduct of the presenter has had.”

Martinengo joined Hot 91.9 FM as the station’s new breakfast host in September of last year. Before that he was at 5FM until 2012 and heavily involved in covering motorsport.

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