Mihlali Nobavu spoke out about alleged exploitative labour practices at the Babel restuarant in Menlyn, leading to authorities intervening swiftly. PICTURE: Oupa Mokoena/IndependentNewspapers and Screenshot/Tiktok
The Babel restaurant waitress, Mihlali Nobavu, who exposed the unfair labour practices at the Menlyn restaurant, has spoken out publicly for the first time since the incident went viral.
The pyschology student has shared why she made her viral TikTok post and what her life has been like since.
During an interview with Newzroom Afrika, Nobavu shared that she never expected her post to go viral as it did.
Since that video, the Department of Labour, the Hawks and Home Affairs have conducted raids at thousands of restaurants across the country, exposing questionable labour practices at some of South Africa’s much loved eateries, who were found to be hiring undocumented foreign nationals and not paying staff adequately, in accordance with the national minimum wage.
Labour Minister Nomakhosazana Meth this week shared how they had issued fines totalling over R10 million and arrested 81 undocumented foreign workers during their nationwide labour inspections on restaurants and workplace compliance.
Nobavu said she was just using her platform to vent and was surprised when she woke up that the post had gone viral.
The student received many responses and direct messages to her video and said she felt heartbroken that so many others had been going through similar experiences.
But she was happy that people were now coming forward to share their stories after being reluctant to speak out in the past.
After seeing officials raiding other restaurants and doing what needed to be done in the first place she said that she was impressed with the work that officials were doing.
“I was happy that justice was finally being served. People were finally receiving the help that they needed to receive,” said Nobavu.
@molly_bave Come to my Newzroom Afrika interview with me #fypシ゚ #SAMA28 #newzroomafrika #vlog ♬ original sound - molly
She adds that she is grateful to political parties like the EFF and ANC for stepping in.
“The EFF is still keeping in touch with me today,” she says.
She admires how they truly care and are active participants in righting the wrongs.
When Nobavu left her last shift at Babel, having worked from 1pm to 1am and only made R100 in tips and having a harsh fine imposed on her, she shared how she decided that she was not returning to work because she never wanted to be treated the way was ever again.
@molly_bave Babel in Menlyn needs to start treating their employees like humans !! #fypシ゚ #SAMA28 #babel #menlynmall #mistreatment #viral ♬ original sound - molly
The day after she posted the video one of her managers reached out to her to ask her to take down the video.
But she felt it was not best to take it down since it was already all over social media and that keeping the video up would do more good than harm.
She continues by saying that even after she received only R100 after a 12-hour shift she wanted to persevere and remain positive.
However, after that particular day, she could no longer do it and that she was not going to survive in that working environment.
Now that she’s unemployed, she’s decided to turn her focus on her studies even after she’s received many job offers from people who have reached out to her.
She does however share that she does make some money as a content creator, but shares that it is a competitive environment.
Nobavu is currently working on her honours degree in psychology and would love to complete her masters then.
Her passion is to be a forensic psychologist one day.
Regarding the hospitality industry, she says that she hopes that they continue with inspections as they are doing now, because she doesn’t want anyone to go through what she went through.
IOL