MultiChoice has stepped in and banned a woman from entering any of its DStv branches after she allegedly called DStv customer care personnel "monkeys".
The satellite pay-TV provider told a DStv subscriber that the behaviour of the woman who entered the customer care centre on his behalf is not acceptable and won't be tolerated.
The alleged racist incident happened on Thursday last week after the woman walked into the Cape Town MultiChoice Customer Centre at the N1 City Goodwood in Cape Town and publicly blasted black staff working there as "monkeys" while she was waiting to be served.
Inside the N1 City MultiChoice Customer Centre the older white woman allegedly asked if there is a "white person I can speak to" and then continued her overheard cellphone call in which she used the word "monkeys" numerous times to describe DStv customer care personnel in sentences like "Yes, it's all blacks here. They are all monkeys hanging on a tree".
The woman was not a DStv subscriber but went to the N1 City branch on behalf of a DStv subscriber.
MultiChoice spoke to the DStv subscriber, saying racist behaviour is not accepted and tolerated and he apologised on behalf of the woman. The MultiChoice employee received counseling.
Meanwhile the young DStv customer care representative has now laid a complaint with the South African Human Rights Commission.
"Yes, there was an incident between one of our customer services agents and a customer in our N1 City Walk-in Centre in Goodwood, Cape Town last week Thursday during which the customer made racist remarks, MultiChoice tells TVwithThinus.
"We strongly condemn any form of racism and take incidents of this nature very seriously".
"Upon being made aware of the incident, senior management immediately stepped in, gave the employee counselling and time off, and immediately initiated an extensive investigation."
"We established that the person who came to the walk-in centre was not the account holder but a representative of the account holder. We communicated the incident to the account holder and expressed our deep concern. He immediately and unreservedly apologised, and assured us that he will address this with the person who represented him. We conveyed his apology to the employee concerned."
"We take our responsibility to create a healthy and safe working environment for our employees very seriously," says MultiChoice.
"We have engaged with our employees and the agencies who represent them to ensure they feel comfortable to work in the branch".
