Hundreds of legislature employees yesterday began a food boycott over the alleged ill treatment of canteen staff by catering company boss Viwe Vazi.
Vazi, the owner of Above and Beyond Catering, is accused of verbally abusing her staff, as well as victimising and ill-treating them.
Legislature employees have vowed to use the dining hall to eat home-prepared meals instead of buying canteen meals.
They said they would continue doing so until working conditions for those employed at the dining hall improved, or the services of the catering company were terminated.
But Vazi yesterday hit back and denied ill-treating her staff.
“I don’t know anything about swearing at staff in public. It has never happened and no one has ever complained,” she said.
“In fact, it’s the other way around. Some of the staff I inherited are the ones who are rude. One of them even assaulted two other employees and I could not take action as they are protected by the union.”
Vazi is one of the accused in the ongoing Nelson Mandela memorial funds scandal trial involving various business people and senior politicians at Buffalo City Metro.
Her company was appointed last October on a three-year contract to provide catering services at the legislature.
The appointment came after Vazi had challenged the awarding of the multimillion-rand contract in court after her company initially failed to get the tender.
The Daily Dispatch reported last year that Vazi’s company was disqualified after she had allegedly failed to declare that she had previously done work for other government departments.
She, however, successfully challenged the disqualification in court. The decision was reversed, with Above and Beyond eventually contracted to feed more than 300 employees and members of the provincial legislature.
Nehawu legislature branch secretary Branton Jonas said employees at the legislature canteen were “ill-treated, victimised and verbally abused” in front of other people by Vazi.
He said the company also had no proper policies in place.
“There is no code of conduct and there is also no proper leave management system in place.
“Employees are treated like slaves and once they raise their concerns, they are threatened with axing.”
He added that they had written to the legislature calling for the termination of Above and Beyond’s contract, which runs until 2017.
Vazi denied that her company had no policies in place, saying she was operating according to accepted labour policies.
“I work according to prescribed labour conditions, but they want me to operate on legislature policies.”
She said she had met with the union and legislature management yesterday and no issues had been raised about the alleged verbal abuse of employees.
Vazi said it was agreed that the employees would be properly informed of the company’s policies and that they be allowed to make amendments to them.
All Above and Beyond employees were absorbed by the company from PMZ Motel caterers after its contract was not renewed last year.
Legislature employees yesterday either bought food from outside sources or brought home-made lunch packs.
“We advise Vazi to eat her own food as we shall no longer eat food which is produced in unfavourable conditions which can be characterised as poisonous. We are basically against modern-day slavery,” Jonas said.
An employee who asked to remain anonymous for fear of victimisation, yesterday accused Vazi of being “rude and barbarian”.
“She does not know how to treat employees, she swears at us in front of everybody. At one stage, she swore and nearly assaulted a male colleague whom she had accused of coming to work late despite him being on time.
“Tensions are very high here. She is not on speaking terms with some employees. She also wanted to fire our manager after she had raised concerns about the ill treatment of staff,” the employee said.
A colleague said they were happy with the food boycott “as it was time to deal with this woman’s arrogance”.
“Our previous employer was like a mother to us all. Our dignity means nothing to this one.”
Legislature spokeswoman Bulelwa Ganyaza had not responded to questions at the time of writing yesterday. — asandan@dispatch.co.za
Food boycott to end ‘slavery’
Vazi, the owner of Above and Beyond Catering, is accused of verbally abusing her staff, as well as victimising and ill-treating them.
Legislature employees have vowed to use the dining hall to eat home-prepared meals instead of buying canteen meals.
They said they would continue doing so until working conditions for those employed at the dining hall improved, or the services of the catering company were terminated.
But Vazi yesterday hit back and denied ill-treating her staff.
“I don’t know anything about swearing at staff in public. It has never happened and no one has ever complained,” she said.
“In fact, it’s the other way around. Some of the staff I inherited are the ones who are rude. One of them even assaulted two other employees and I could not take action as they are protected by the union.”
Vazi is one of the accused in the ongoing Nelson Mandela memorial funds scandal trial involving various business people and senior politicians at Buffalo City Metro.
Her company was appointed last October on a three-year contract to provide catering services at the legislature.
The appointment came after Vazi had challenged the awarding of the multimillion-rand contract in court after her company initially failed to get the tender.
The Daily Dispatch reported last year that Vazi’s company was disqualified after she had allegedly failed to declare that she had previously done work for other government departments.
She, however, successfully challenged the disqualification in court. The decision was reversed, with Above and Beyond eventually contracted to feed more than 300 employees and members of the provincial legislature.
Nehawu legislature branch secretary Branton Jonas said employees at the legislature canteen were “ill-treated, victimised and verbally abused” in front of other people by Vazi.
He said the company also had no proper policies in place.
“There is no code of conduct and there is also no proper leave management system in place.
“Employees are treated like slaves and once they raise their concerns, they are threatened with axing.”
He added that they had written to the legislature calling for the termination of Above and Beyond’s contract, which runs until 2017.
Vazi denied that her company had no policies in place, saying she was operating according to accepted labour policies.
“I work according to prescribed labour conditions, but they want me to operate on legislature policies.”
She said she had met with the union and legislature management yesterday and no issues had been raised about the alleged verbal abuse of employees.
Vazi said it was agreed that the employees would be properly informed of the company’s policies and that they be allowed to make amendments to them.
All Above and Beyond employees were absorbed by the company from PMZ Motel caterers after its contract was not renewed last year.
Legislature employees yesterday either bought food from outside sources or brought home-made lunch packs.
“We advise Vazi to eat her own food as we shall no longer eat food which is produced in unfavourable conditions which can be characterised as poisonous. We are basically against modern-day slavery,” Jonas said.
An employee who asked to remain anonymous for fear of victimisation, yesterday accused Vazi of being “rude and barbarian”.
“She does not know how to treat employees, she swears at us in front of everybody. At one stage, she swore and nearly assaulted a male colleague whom she had accused of coming to work late despite him being on time.
“Tensions are very high here. She is not on speaking terms with some employees. She also wanted to fire our manager after she had raised concerns about the ill treatment of staff,” the employee said.
A colleague said they were happy with the food boycott “as it was time to deal with this woman’s arrogance”.
“Our previous employer was like a mother to us all. Our dignity means nothing to this one.”
Legislature spokeswoman Bulelwa Ganyaza had not responded to questions at the time of writing yesterday. — asandan@dispatch.co.za
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