THE City of Ekurhuleni has summarily dismissed an employee for making a racist remark against her colleague.
The city manager learned on Monday last week that an employee wrote an email with the following wording to her colleagues: “Ek is moeg met hierdie bobbejane hier hulle dink ek sal bedank soos meneer van der Nest en ek sal nie”.
Speaking in council on Thursday last week, the executive mayor, Clr Mzwandile Masina, said: “Racism will not be tolerated in the City of Ekurhuleni. We have a dark past of racial injustices and no one will undermine efforts to build a non-racist, non-sexist and democratic society.”
“The city wants to make it clear that it has a zero tolerance approach towards racism and it will deal harshly with any instance that is brought to its attention. This commitment by the city will be implemented in respect of every aspect of the scourge of racism whether by employees or by members of the community who are conducting business with the city.
“The city prides itself as a champion of human rights and upholds the rights of every individual to human dignity and respect. No employee of the city will escape the repercussions of behaving in a manner that does not accord with the values espoused by the city or undermining constitutional foundations of democracy.
“The city encourages both its employees and members of the community to report and bring evidence of racist conduct so that the city can squash racism whenever it raises its ugly head.”
