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
It took one lone voice of a young student in Pretoria, Mihlali Nobavu, to expose the exploitative regime which was taking place at the swanky new Babel Restaurant in Menlyn, Pretoria.
A few days after saying enough, change is being promised by her former employers who were last week telling her to get cuter braids, all while not paying her or the other staffers, a basic minimum wage of R27.58 per hour.
Her voice has been heard and as her voice reverberates on thousands of smartphones after her brave Tiktok video, this could finally lead to fair wages for her former colleagues, and hopefully, an improvement in their basic working conditions.
Not all heroes wear capes.
Thousands of people on social media rallied behind Nobavu as they listened to the horror of her story, a story the young student detailed simply, coherently and eloquently.
It didn't take long to figure out who the bad guys were as she detailed her waitressing nightmare, which only lasted a few days, we were told.
Nobavu’s cry was quickly heard by the Economic Freedom Fighters in Tshwane, who at the threat of increasingly becoming an irrelevant entity in Mzansi politics these days, quickly descended to the restaurant and made their presence felt.
Not to be outshone, the State, surprisingly acted swiftly for a change, sending a swashbuckling team of Home Affairs immigration officials, Department of Labour officials and inspectors, the Hawks and officials from the Bargaining Council.
By Sunday night, at least three people were behind bars, two undocumented foreign waiters at Babel and a manager/owner, arrested for compliance reasons.
A fourth person, an undocumented foreign delivery driver, was arrested as well after he was simply at the wrong place at the wrong time as he tried to collect a delivery order at Oceans Basket. Eish.
By Monday, Labour Minister Nomakhosazana Meth’s office revealed in the media that Babel, and their neighbours Ocean Basket, owed a combined R1.3 million to staff in unpaid wages as the department accused the restaurants of short changing their staff from the R27.58 per hour minimum wage.
Ocean Basket, the department alleged, owed R813,969 in unpaid wages, while Babel, owed cleaners R271,984 and waitresses and waiters, R295,547 - over R560,000 combined.
The ministry, as did Nobavu, alleged that workers were paid no basic salary, relying only on tips and service fees.
Nobavu also shared how the waitresses and waiters, were required to pay a R200 breakage fee at every shift, and shared how they were fined by managers, further eating into their tip-garnered “wages”.
For every hour they worked in their alleged 12-to-15 hour shifts, they were not paid their R27.58 per hour minimum wage, the establishments effectively shortchanged staff of the bare minimum anyone can make hourly in this country.
This is the same establishment, swanky, fresh and modern, catering to the who's who of the Pretoria East social circles and selling Mexican beers at R40 a pop and Hennessey cognac at over R1,999 per bottle - excluding the mandatory service fee - was undercutting the most vulnerable of workers for their own financial gain.
Shame on Babel and all other eateries and night life spots who engage in such practices.
A fly on the wall whispers they are not the only one, with some establishments even charging the desperate waitrons a shift fee, which enables them to cash in on tips, again with no basic wage.
Again, bravo to the young and brave Mihlali Nobavu, who dared to speak out in the face of this alleged exploitative regime which forced her hand, asking her, as a lowly waitress, a student - to buy her own uniforms and other tools of trade, so the establishment could save some bucks.
The Mihlali Nobavu-Babel story is also a kudos to citizen journalism and active citizenry, to those who kept the fire burning as the story broke over the weekend, as most of us mainstream journalists were largely switched off, operating newsrooms on skeleton staff.
Nobavu’s bravery has led us here and she must be commended for her courage and bravery for speaking out, managing to elevate it to a matter of public interest, uncovering the dark and dirty secrets of our swanky Instagrammable eateries.
Now we know. The State must now act cogently, deliberately and decisively.
A clean up is needed, or at the very least must be seen to be done. The likes of Babel must be made examples of, once and for all.
Babel’s human resources consultant Itumeleng Kgogome, speaking after their engagement meeting with the EFF, defended the company and said it was a new establishment. Right.
But importantly, he promised they would rectify the situation and learn from it.
He said: “The company doesn't have an HR team and it’s a fairly new company and our staff that is permanent have contracts that will be your scullery and kitchen.
“As you understand, normally when it comes to waitresses how things could go, these people come in two or three days a week but that will be rectified. We have a new team that will ensure that every employee hired will have a contract.
“To ensure that we comply with the law fully, all employment contracts will be there and any department that comes here will find all those things,” said Kgogome.
Time will for Babel and the like, but for now, they need to face the music and pay people their R27.58 per hour!
* Sihle Mlambo is a content manager at IOL
** The views expressed are not necessarily those of Independent Media.