Pharmacy store, Clicks says it will be laying a formal complaint after a manager at the Boulders Shopping Centre, in Halfway House told a customer that he was not dressed “decently” and asked him to leave on Wednesday.
In a video circulating on social media, the man is seen in traditional Ndebele attire.
The man is confronted by another man – later identified as a centre manager – who asks him to leave the mall.
Clicks, where the incident happened, says it has been left embarrassed by the centre manager’s actions. In a statement, Clicks said “The Centre Manager of Boulders and the Boulders Centre security demanded that the customer leave. Our store manager intervened and asked the Centre Manager to leave. The customer was allowed to continue shopping.
We will be putting in a formal complaint.”
In the video, the centre manager can be heard telling the customer that they’ve got a right of admission and that Boulders is his mall.
A woman, who appears to be the one filming the altercation can be heard saying: “This is Africa. You can’t tell someone what to do or what to wear at which mall.”
The Boulders Shopping Center manager, has been identified as Jose Maponyane.
The Boulders Shopping Centre has apologised for the incident. “The Centre would like to clarify that it does not deny entry based on appearances and clothes. It is unfortunate that the incident that occurred inside Clicks is being viewed as intolerant towards other cultures and clothes.” said the Boulders Shopping Centre on its Facebook Account.
“We would like to state that based on various complaints received from shoppers the person in question was asked to leave the store as his underwear indecently exposed him. We neither had nor have any intentions of hurting sentiments or discriminating against anyone on the basis of their cultural beliefs and practices. The exchange in the video does not represent the core beliefs and values of the centre. We take this opportunity to once again apologise to those who feel hurt by the incident. The decision was taken in the interests of other shoppers and employees of the mall.” the statement concluded.
Social media users have called for the immediate dismissal of the Boulders Centre Management and have rubbished the centre’s claims that the costumer’s underwater was “indecently exposed”.
