Municipal worker beaten: Supervisor probed

Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo (JCPZ) has appointed an independent law firm to investigate an employee who allegedly assaulted a colleague, knocking out her tooth after she rejected his advances.

The incident happened at City Parks' Lenasia depot in December 2023, where Gugulethu Mahlangu was allegedly beaten up by her supervisor.

The supervisor is facing criminal charges.

Executive manager for human capital at City Parks, Christopher Pholwane, said: “The affected employees have been duly notified and are co-operating with the investigation. The investigating law firm has been assigned six weeks and will revert to JCPZ management with a report, and [we] will take the matter from then on.”

Mahlangu said when she arrived for her shift she found her supervisor, drinking alcohol in the changing rooms.

She said she asked him to drop her off at home as she had a lot of bags. 

“I went to get the pillows and bedding from my quarters, and he was following behind. It was when I got into the room that I heard the door closing behind me. I turned and found him approaching me, trying to kiss me, and I told him 'no', that I was married and not interested. I pushed him and he slapped me,” she said.

Mahlangu said they fought, and she fell. He proceeded to kick and punch her, all while she screamed for help, she alleged.

Mahlangu said she took out a protection order against the supervisor but was still forced to work with him.

“They expected me to continue working with him as if I had done something wrong. I was hospitalised with depression because of this, and during that time, I was still harassed by management to come to work. They even deducted my pay,” she said.

Pholwane said: “Disciplinary proceedings are internal matters and will remain so until such time that they are escalated to an external forum. JCPZ does not update the media with regard to employees’ matters; we only made an exception due to serious allegations made, and as such, we took it under advisement to respond accordingly.”

Samwu spokesperson Jack Mokalapa said City Parks failed to protect Mahlangu despite proper channels being followed to report the incident.

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