Limited prospects for employment have cornered young Batswana into becoming easy pickings for restaurant owners looking for cheap labour. An investigation by The Business Weekly & Review finds a group of people who are both employed and underemployed, but work without any salary and can be sacked for the flimsiest of reasons. Staff writers TSHIRELETSO MOTLOGELWA, KEABETSWE NEWEL and BOITSHEPO MAJUBE explore the sordid tale of our modern slaves.
At Cappello in the Central Business District of Gaborone, especially when the month is at dusk, the middle class of the capital city has its fun. On a hot summer day when the sun is scorching and temperatures slowly climbing, they have special moisture sprinklers that they turn on and a cloud of sweet chill permeates the air falling on shoulders, faces and on the soft skin of nubile arms while it induces sudden coolness. At night the music takes a soulful turn, the lighting dim and the conversations fervent.
You can have Notorious B.I.G Chicken Wings named after the famous rapper, “a double dose of char-grilled marinated wings”, as the brochure puts it, with a choice of sauces from teriyaki, through sweet chilli to peri peri. But if you are really up to it, you could sink your teeth into a 600g rump steak. You can get it made to your specifications, from well done through medium rare to rare. It comes with a salad on the side. When the chef is having a good day he can perfectly medium-rare it, so that you can see the soft brown marks where the grill scorched the meat.
It leaves just enough blood and juice to create a soothing after taste of perfect spiciness combined with hints of pepper. The plate arrives and the knife and fork digs in. Sometimes a drink is ordered it arrives pronto. It may not be a perfect world but it’s as good a system as you can get in this world. But this would never happen without the anonymous figures that drift in and out of sight at request – the waiters. The waiters are the unseen, the vital cogs in this machine of pleasure, and behind the forced smiles a sordid tale remains untold.
They provide a pleasure they can never hope to enjoy. The waiters are the modern slaves of this throbbing city with its frenetic life made of hard work and partying hard.
They provide a pleasure they can never hope to enjoy. The waiters are the modern slaves of this throbbing city with its frenetic life made of hard work and partying hard. Millionaire investors who operate these up-market restaurants have found a cheap recipe to wealth, and that is to have waiters please customers for nothing in return. In between the gleeful imbibing of toxic drinks and the ingestion of succulent steaks, pause a bit and look at the waiter. The Business Weekly & Review team made time to visit several restaurants around the city.
“In this industry you are lucky to earn a basic salary,” says a young lady who gives her name only as Pearl, She says that after serving the night crawlers that leave the invigorating Cappello just after midnight, sometimes they wait for a single minibus to transport them home, arriving hours later because it has to make rounds dropping them off at different places one by one. She says they are paid a 4 percent commission, which culminates to peanuts at the end of the month, yet they are expected to purchase their own dish cloths as well as cigarette lighters to amuse the Cappello clientele.
Despite the unending fatigue that comes with working odd hours and lack of rest, she has to soldier on because she has a two-year-old daughter who needs any little cash she can lay her hands on. “Sometimes I even work when I am not feeling well because I am not entitled to any sick leave as a casual labourer. When I go they easily get another young girl to take my shifts,” she said.
But she is the lucky one; at least she gets transport home. Upon arrival at Linga Longa, a youthful yet mid-level restaurant and entertainment spot at the Riverwalk Mall, a seemingly sad young man approaches. His name is *Thato Mosidi (not his real name). He is clad in a low-budget blue golf shirt, branded Linga Longa. His black trousers have faded out of being worn regularly if not daily. The black canvas sneakers could also complain if they could talk. They are worn out and it is just a matter of time before the shoes give up completely.
Mosidi’s lips are patched dry, and you could see hunger written all over his face. He also looks tired from attending to the endless demands of the intoxicated customers. But he is forced to be on his feet what with the ‘slave driver’ who keeps checking on waiters, her T-shirt written Manager.
The 21-year-old lad is just a symbol of slavery, driven by poverty. This is a young man who slaves for Linga Longa, pleasing customers who fork out hundreds of thousands of Pula every week, but he does not have a basic salary. He says his payment is only 4 percent of the value paid by clients he serves on a daily basis. When he knocks off every day, his manager gives him his cut so as to avoid any ties with him as an employee.
We are treated as casual workers. I make as little as P1 200 cumulatively on a good month.
“We are treated as casual workers. I make as little as P1 200 cumulatively on a good month. We are told to earn more money through tips, but that is dependent on the customer you serve,” he said. Interestingly, the restaurant does not offer any food to them during the day, define serving them to customers. Mosidi said it costs a waiter P5 to get a sub-standard meal of pasta with a little stew, left from the night’s serving. “If you do not have the P5, you do not get any meal unless you choose to gobble down leftovers from these tables,” he laughs shyly.
This is the general life of waiters in Botswana but they are expected to pay rental (which costs around P700 a room), settle utilities, food and transport.
Linga Longa, Mugg & Bean and Bull & Bush are all fully owned by one South African company, a subsidiary of the South African giant Famous Brands. The Business Weekly & Review approached Mugg & Bean manager in Game City but she refused to comment on such matters referring this publication to Bull & Bush where the managers would speak for both Linga Longa and Mugg & Bean. An inquiry has been sitting with some manager at Bull & Bush who only identified herself as Grinny, but was not willing to respond, despite regular follow-ups.
At Cappello Masego Keleitse said that her waiters were paid fair commissions although they do not have basic salaries and other benefits entitled to an employee. “However, I cannot reveal employment conditions to you because they are confidential,” she said.
It emerged, however, that like all other restaurants, Cappello targets young people aged between 18 and 22 years, some of them school-going, who can easily be slaved around for next to nothing.
Keleitse said they were casual workers who had very flexible terms and could leave any time they pleased. This was also confirmed by a manager at Rhapsody’s, an up-market restaurant at Airport Junction Mall. Poet Dumelang said that although they engaged these youngsters, they provided them with food. In addition his was a big restaurant and his waiters got a fair share from their 3 percent commissions because of the huge takings.
It emerges that not many waiters have a full-time job in Botswana, not to mention the exploitation and the cruel working conditions they undergo daily.
The Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs, however, seems not to care about these conditions although it is supposed to enforce labour laws. Minister Edwin Batshu said there were labour laws that govern the relationship between employee and employer. He said if the employee is on contract, then the Employment Act spells out what the employer needs to do. He said in the case of casual workers the situation was difficult since they did not have contracts.
Not having a contract has put waiters under pressure as they only get paid for the job done.
Not having a contract has put waiters under pressure as they only get paid for the job done. They can’t attend social gatherings such as weddings, funerals and other events. If they miss work due to illness or for whatever valid reason there is no pay.
They are only bond to their employer when their shift is ongoing. Apart from that they are strangers. “Every day when you knock off you get the 4 percent commission you worked for that day,” a distressed waiter said, highlighting that if it was not for assistance from family and friends he wouldn’t afford basic necessities.
For most of the waiters that serve us daily in these fancy restaurants, the future is bleak. They do not have any pension fund and they face the danger of being fired anytime. Students who accept peanuts as casual labourers make it difficult for those who see it as their career. “Students have eroded our bargaining power. When you demand better conditions they simply fire and replace you with a student.”
Despite dissatisfaction by waiters, The Hospitality and Tourism Association of Botswana (HATAB), which exists to promote, encourage and police excellence in hospitality and tourism in Botswana (restaurants and hotels fall under the hospitality sector) says it has not received any reports/complaints. HATAB says all those employed by their members are salaried, and the majority of them are paid above the minimum wage. Hotels and restaurants are classified under the tourism sector, which is the second largest contributor to GDP, yet a certain class of workers within this economic section wallow in poverty.