Thando Mahlangu said an apology from the Boulders Shopping Centre will mean nothing to him after he was humiliated by the centre manager on Wednesday.
“I don’t want an apology, an apology is nothing bra, It won’t do anything for me, they must pay.”
“I want them to compensate me, they must respect our people, if it was up to me, they should donate to organisations that promote African languages and culture, they need to pay,” Mahlangu told the People’s Paper.
He also said the shopping centre must advocate for their workers to respect cultures and also have stores which sell cultural stuff around.
The manager, who claimed in a video that he is the owner of the centre has since been suspended pending internal investigations.
Mahlangu said: “His suspension doesn’t move me, it is not something that I am happy about because it is a fellow brother, but I want to know where he got the directive to tell me those things.”
He said the incident took him back to 2018, after he was kicked out of a Gautrain for wearing the same attire and suffered depression as a result of the incident.
“Gautrain did exactly the same thing. It is happening for the second time. The first time I had depression for three months, it takes me back to the first incident,” he said.
Detailing how the ordeal started, Mahlangu said he was approached by a security guard who was given an order to tell him to go.
“The security said to me, ‘I’m sorry man, the owner of this building said you are not allowed here because you making customers uncomfortable.”
He said he told the man to go and call the person who gave him that order, and suddenly here was the manager with the red blazer.
“When the manager came, I didn’t think he would say the things he said. I just saw a fellow black brother, I thought he wanted to take photos with me and I didn’t know he was the manager.”
Mahlangu said he heard from the tone of this voice that he’s the manager when he started speaking.
“He told me it was his building, and that he owns it and also said that I am disturbing his customers.
“He also told me I’m wearing underwear, this is not underwear, this is leather,” he said.
He said so far, since the incident management of the mall has not been in contact with him regarding the incident.
Redefine Properties said in a statement, we respect the choice of all South Africans to dress, associate, and assert their identity and cultural beliefs. As an immediate measure, we will strengthen diversity training efforts to all our Centre Managers.
“This matter has also illuminated for us, the need to continually review and revise our internal policies on an on-going basis, in order to ensure that our policies are brought in line with the values and principles that recognise and celebrate the multitude of cultures that make up our diverse nation.
“We are in the process of attempting to reach Mr. Mahlangu to apologise to him in person.”
-daily sun
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