Manager fired for racist remarks
PE construction company acts swiftly following k-word furore
AS a fierce backlash against racially charged utterances continues to rage throughout the country, a Port Elizabeth housing construction manager, who allegedly repeatedly called his workers the k-word, has been fired. Sebastian Klue, who is in his 60s, was dismissed yesterday by O Steyn Construction, which is overseeing a government-funded social housing project in the city. “I have nothing to say ... the company will issue a press statement,” Klue said. “I have been fired. How would you feel if you were to be fired? “The least said about this the better.” When workers asked Klue why he used the k-word, his response was that he had been calling black people k****r for more than 60 years. A storm of racism accusations has gripped South Africa this month, with a torrent of charged comments and responses being posted on social media and expressed on other platforms. Klue’s contract was terminated following a meeting yesterday with SMMEs and O Steyn Construction’s management. Company owner Okkie Steyn said Klue’s views and actions were not supported by the company. “O Steyn Construction has terminated [the] employment of the individual involved in the incident with immediate effect,” he said. Steyn said a new communication structure had been put in place to prevent future incidents. “We have resolved and agreed that the construction site will be reopened with immediate effect,” he said. The company is in charge of the Fairview Link site, which is funded by the Eastern Cape Department of Human Settlements. Workers shut it down this week, demanding that Klue be fired for his racist tirade.
Kaya Dyonashe, 35, a small business owner who had been contracted to provide painting services, said he had argued with Klue after he heard him call another worker the k-word. But Klue then allegedly said the same thing to him. “I am thrilled that he has been fired. After 22 years of democracy, we can’t afford to have people like him around,” Dyonashe said. Luvuyo Popo, speaking on behalf of the SMMEs, said: “We can’t tolerate racists. This is a lesson to others that there is no space or place for racism.” Human Settlements spokesman Lwandile Sicwetsha said the department welcomed the action taken by the company. “South Africa has come too far for people to be racially abused in the workplace,” he said. “The [housing] project has state funding and we can’t allow racism to roam free. “Workers also have a right to embrace democracy and its values of non-racialism. “The abuse of previously disadvantaged people will not be allowed.” On Monday, police confirmed that a case of crimen injuria had been opened against Klue at the Walmer police station. The rash of race-related incidents and comments that have caused a furore recently include estate agent Penny Sparrow describing blacks enjoying New Year’s Day on Durban beaches as “monkeys”, economist Chris Hart saying the victims of apartheid now had a sense of entitlement, and government official Velaphi Khumalo calling for black South Africans to deal with white South Africans in the same way that “Hitler did to the Jews”. Also, the past weekend saw Capetonian Nicole de Klerk fired from her marketing job after she used the k-word a number of times in a confrontation at the Kenilworth Racecourse in Cape Town.
