TMG Digital reports that using muti or traditional preparations to intimidate or threaten a colleague constitutes misconduct and is a dismissible offence.  

According to a recent finding by the Bargaining Council for the Sugar Manufacturing and Refining Industry, employers have the right to remove such “purveyors of darkness from their environment”.  The case related to Tongaat Hulett’s dismissal in 2014 of Louis Mngomezulu‚ a boilermaker at the company’s Darnall Mill‚ for placing the safety‚ health and life of the company’s HR manager‚ Nokukhanya Nxele‚ at risk.  The company claimed Mngomezulu did that by knowingly and deliberately placing some black‚ gummy substances on the door and key hole of her car door.  Nxele described the substance to a traditional healer she consulted‚ who believed it was harmful muti.  Mngomezulu‚ who had been on a final written warning at the time‚ denied using witchcraft on Nxele.  Evidence placed Mngomezulu in the vicinity of Khanyo’s car.  The commissioner found that Mngomezulu attempted to use a shared cultural belief system to intimidate Nxele.

• Read this report by Ernest Mabuza in full at TimesLive

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