Former employees of the notorious Bar With No Name pub and restaurant in Sasolburg, Free State, have spoken out about human rights violations that they claim they were subjected to by the owner and manager of the establishment.
Alleged violations inclu-de, among others, making male and female staff sleep in the same room after knocking off in the wee hours of the morning while their white colleagues were transported to their homes.
The ex-employees, who say they were renumerated in tips and commission, spoke to Sunday World this week outside Sasolburg Magistrate’s Court, where their former boss and former owner of the popular pub Gert Janse van Rensburg made his second appearance in the Equality Court on Tuesday.
Janse van Rensburg, who was hauled before the court by the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), is facing a charge of hate crime. The charge resulted from a viral video in which white bar patrons were seen urinating on the “faces” of President Cyril Ramaphosa, former president Jacob Zuma, EFF president Julius Malema and former African Union chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.
The four leaders’ pictures had been placed in urinals in the toilets of the bar on the outskirts of Sasolburg.
The former bar watrons came to the court in support of whistleblower Lehlogonolo Matha-batha, who reported Janse van Rensburg and former bar mana-ger Jiovanni Cosmo to the SAHRC. Cosmo has since emigrated to the US.
Rosina Manciya of Sebokeng, in the Vaal Triangle, said she had felt humiliated while working at the bar from 2021.
“When I got the job at the bar, I was excited about finally being able to make ends meet. I never anticipated that it was the beginning of a nightmare for me. Working under Gert and Jiovanni was hell,” said Manciya, adding that she was forced to share a bed with men in the
tiny room behind the bar.
She claimed that Janse van Rensburg and Cosmo had told her that there was no alternative when they knocked off late at night and there was no transport to take them home. She said they worked from 10am to 2am the next morning.
“I slept in the middle of one of two beds in the room with male colleagues on either side. I had to sleep in my jeans; in fact, all us women did,” said Manciya.
“Our white colleagues would be transported home.”
She said in the morning they would wash up in buckets in the passage alongside male colleagues.
“This is the worst job I have ever had, and because of the trauma, I still get flashbacks.”
Manciya said when she complained about the working conditions, Janse van Rensburg had fired her.
Another ex-employee, Patrick Motaung, said Janse van Rensburg and Cosmo ensured they didn’t have a cent on them for the whole month.
“When customers gave us cash as tips, they would take the money to keep it for us until the end of the month, but even then, often we got that money back late,” said Motaung.
He said it was not uncommon for black watrons to be made to weed the garden and pavement outside the premises.
He said Cosmo once asked him to take a drug test after accusing him of stealing cash from the business.
“But when the polygrapher arrived, Jiovanni instructed me not to present myself for testing,” he said. “A few days later, I was fired for ‘failing to take the test’.”
Workers that Sunday World found on the premises on Tuesday said the bar was under new management but didn’t change name.
“Whatever happened here before was unfortunate. Janse van Rensburg had nothing to do with the pictures of the black politicians being placed in the urinals but is paying a price for it,” said a current employee who asked not to be named.
The case against Janse van Rensburg was postponed to September 2 after the court asked the respective lawyers to arrange for “witnesses now in the US to attend court”.
Janse van Rensburg did not respond to specific questions asked but instead said, “It saddens me that your journalism is of such poor quality, and I had great hopes for you. You displayed a ‘go-getter’ attitude from the start however, you only report on half-truths. On a previous occasion I gave you great detail of my side of the story, yet you did not report on my version. I really wanted to take hands with you on my journey to innocence, yet it seemed that you were not impartial… these actions are indicative of sensation seeking rather than journalism.”
