Sars manager in trouble for using a gorilla to address black staff

Using props to get one's message across in the corporate world can be helpful, but when a white manager uses a toy gorilla to address black staff, it is unlikely to be well received.

A senior South African Revenue Service (Sars) official is facing a disciplinary hearing after she used the fluffy toy to illustrate a unit's poor performance.

Susan Fourie, an executive for data analytics, has been charged with inappropriate behaviour and contravention of Sars' code of conduct.

In the notice of her disciplinary hearing, which the Sunday Times has seen, Sars claims Fourie's behaviour "caused offence and embarrassment" to her fellow employees and caused other colleagues to feel "discriminated against on the basis on their colour".

Fourie, 51, presented the gorilla to a group of black colleagues to represent the burden their department was putting on her.

She admits to using the toy, but denies her actions were racist, saying she used it as a visual representation of the fact that they had a "gorilla of a problem".

The incident occurred when Fourie's department was asked to assist with some functions of the trade statistics unit following several resignations there.

The incident occurred in August 2017, but was only officially reported several months later. It was then under investigation until a hearing was held earlier this month. The hearing continues.

According to a statement from Sars employee Thato Koloane, she and three fellow employees were called to Fourie's office, where Fourie presented her colleague Julio Sabu "with a monkey and said that it represented the burden that trade statistics [his department] was putting on her. Julio turned sideways pushing the monkey away, indicating refusal.

"... Susan then presented me with the monkey and said I must take it on behalf of Julio and Trade Statistics. I refused to take the monkey.

"After the meeting, when we were about to leave, Susan asked us whether we are leaving the monkey. I took the monkey upstairs. While I was walking past my colleagues' desks, some of them saw me holding the monkey and inquired about it. I told them what happened. I left the monkey on top of a table in an open area."

When Victor Munyama was appointed head of trade statistics two months later, he noticed a reluctance among staff to interact with Fourie's data analytics team.

He said when he later found out the details of the incident, "my first reaction was that of guilt and a sense of failure as a manager. I have been pushing my team to go sit with Ms Fourie's team and never tried to understand why there was always a sense of hesitation ... I felt like I have been sending the team to the very same people who think of them as less than human. Giving black staff a black monkey doll to me was just racist, degrading, humiliating, insulting and totally unacceptable in a country like ours where black people have always been subjected to these kinds of racist attacks both in public, private and [in the] work environment."

In her responding affidavit, Fourie said a matter had been referred to her, that there was a "gorilla of a problem" and the current situation could not continue.

"As a visual representative of the problem, I explained that the gorilla represented for me the nature of the task, the combined problem at hand.

"It was not aimed at any individual and I explained the 'monkey doll' (as it is referred to in business practice) in that context."

She said offering it to Koloane had not meant anything "personal or sinister".

Sars spokesman Sandile Memela refused to comment, saying disciplinary procedures against employees are confidential. Fourie did not respond to texts and calls to her.