Court officers' dispute delays justice

A dispute at the Randburg Equality Court has led to the delaying of several hearings- including one of sexual harassment and another involving world-famous photographer Alf Kumalo.

The dispute is between Equality Court clerk Rex Malaka and sheriffs of the courts in Sandton and Randburg, both in Johannesburg, about which of them should collect and serve court documents.

The Equality Court Act stipulates that either can serve documents.

However, this was disputed by the office of the Sandton sheriff yesterday.

A woman who refused to give her name, and said that her bosses would not be able to speak to the media, said the law required the complainant to bring the documents to the sheriff's office and that the sheriff's duty was to serve the documents and not collect them from court.

"We do not go to court to collect documents, we just do the serving as we have been doing for years," she said.

The dispute has delayed justice for Shirley Mdunana and Elizabeth Molefe, who have been trying since February 27 to bring their boss to court, alleging sexual harassment.

They are seeking damages of R50000 each from their boss for causing them psychological damage and impairing their dignity.

The women allege that their boss often called them "stupid" and "pigs", told them that they seduce white men and threatened them when they turned down his advances.

They claim that he told them: "You black people are all stupid . all you know is to make babies."

They also claim that he often told them that he hated winter because he could not see their breasts because they wore jackets.

In a hate speech case, Kumalo is demanding R500000 from Denis Athamsopulos, who allegedly called him a "bloody kaffir" and said to him " amasend e akho" (Zulu for "your testicles").

Kumalo had approached Athamsopulos and asked him to stop making a noise while he was dining with his wife and a family friend at the Ocean Basket restaurant, in Sunninghill, Johannesburg, on January 29.

Athamsopulos has not been served with court papers.Randburg sheriff Diana Hart had not responded to questions at the time of going to press.