Court orders game reserve to pay housekeepers in strip search lawsuit

A luxury Sunshine Coast game reserve has been ordered to pay 11 housekeepers token damages of  R45 000 each after they were subjected to a strip search when money went missing from a tourist chalet.

Grahamstown regional court magistrate Arno Strydom on Friday also ordered upmarket Kariega Game Reserve to offer "specialist trauma counselling" to the women and get expert training for security staff involved in searches.

The women were collectively suing Kariega for more than R4-million claiming they were sexually assaulted and violated by reserve catering manager Adriana Adri Pienaar after R200 and an undisclosed amount of euros went missing from two locked lodges when visitors were out on a day drive.

Strydom's judgment also ordered Kariega to "present sensitisation training" to all employees on the relevant provisions of the South African constitution and human rights when it came to searches in the workplace.