Chamberlain suspends victim of gender-based violence after management makes U-turn on pledge to protect her
AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit, which is currently assisting 20-year-old Danielle Barendse in her case against a client of Chamberlain in Centurion, was informed yesterday that she has been suspended pending a disciplinary hearing against her for an incident that occurred more than a month ago.
It is also the incident in question that led to the unit assisting Barendse on 16 November to file charges of assault and crimen injuria at the Wierdabrug police station. The charges stem from an incident on 8 October 2022 when a male customer chased Barendse around the store and falsely called her a racist in front of the entire store. The man in question is a senior manager at the Tshwane-metro.
“Chamberlain indicated that their client was furious that Danielle had laid charges against him. So instead of taking steps from the outset to make sure their employee felt safe in the workplace, Chamberlain rather decided to suspend her more than a month later, according to them, for ‘her own protection’,” says Natasha Venter, Advisor at AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit.
Venter also indicated that Chamberlain management’s initial complaints against Barendse were that she acted unprofessionally by walking away from the customer, despite the fact that this is the store’s own internal policy on how to handle difficult customers. “However, the notice of suspension now indicates that the client is making allegations with a ‘racist undertone’ against Danielle. This after Chamberlain management admitted to the Private Prosecution Unit Wednesday that Danielle did not act in a racist manner at all and their client himself initially made the false allegations that Danielle merely swore at him. The manager’s immediate attitude was that Danielle was the last person he would believe would swear at a customer, and now the suspension. The allegations of racism are not only apparently false, but apparently an afterthought,” says Venter.
Barendse was also seemingly the victim of gender-based violence in that this man made her fear for her life, as well as that he would physically assault her. “This type of behavior can amount to assault. Why Chamberlain did not act immediately and have this man removed from the store is inconceivable. On the footage of the incident, one can clearly see how distraught this young woman is, as well as how aggressive the man is, but Chamberlain apparently does not attach any value to this,” concludes Venter.
