COSATU marches into town against Choppies
Mbongeni Mguni | Friday July 18, 2014 14:21
The majority of Choppies’ 19 stores in South Africa are in the North West province, whose COSATU branch is leading a call to boycott, after workers went on strike when 107 of their colleagues were suspended or fired for alleged theft.
In a telephone interview yesterday, COSATU North West provincial secretary, Solly Phetoe told Mmegi that representatives of the South African federation had lined up meetings with local unionists in order to “get a feel of Choppies general behaviour” here, before meeting company directors.
“Before we meet the directors, we want to find out from the unions if Choppies is treating workers properly in Botswana,” he said.
“Our international office has set up the appointments so that we get an understanding of what is going on.”
Phetoe said while all suspended workers in Mafikeng and Delareyville had been reinstated, Tuesday’s meeting was necessary to chart the way forward.
“They have reinstated them pending the outcome of Tuesday’s meeting,” he said.
The latest developments follow weekend unrest at Choppies’ Mafikeng and Delareyville where COSATU – Africa’s largest labour federation – claimed to have shut down stores in response to the disciplinary actions.
Unionists said Choppies had secretly planted surveillance cameras in its shops then taken unilateral action on employees it believed were stealing.
“We condemn theft and all those who steal things from the shops but we also call management to treat all workers as per the laws of this country,” COSATU said in a statement.
“This is not the first time that we will engage the senior management from Botswana regarding the exploitation of workers, racial attitudes and assaulting workers by management.”
Mmegi is informed that COSATU tensions with Choppies in the North West are also being stoked by the alleged presence of a senior Choppies manager whom unionists claim has influence in the provincial labour department. Unionists say the manager has “a good relationship with labour commissioners”.
Earlier in the week, Choppies CEO, Ramachandran Ottapath told Mmegi that the matter was largely a clash of personalities, without going into details.
“There was an issue there, but it was more about personal relations between individuals,” he said.