People....

I've been bitching for years about the security man/company that the cottage owners employ at Hole in the Wall: Goodman t/a Sophitsho Security. This guy treats his staff so badly they rarely last longer than a single month. They're not (or very rarely) qualified, and constitute more of a threat to the cottage owners than the local residents because they know the guarding schedules, and they have the opportunity to scope for weaknesses and entry points in people's cottages.

The sad irony is I actually helped him stay in business, when, last October he was unable to pay his staff, so I loaned him R2,000 to enable him to continue.

Now, a few months prior to that I wrote about how Goodman was prosecuting this kid here for allegedley assaulting his (Goodman's) son. See http://www.wildcoast.com/node/242 . . . and in any case, Goodman came up to me, breathlessly, after borrowing the money, and said he was so grateful and that he's seen the error of his ways and he has been unfair to the local people and that in future he would try to make amends.

So since then I've been asking him if he has dropped the charge against young Nkosinathi, and despite repeated promises and assurances, to date he still has not! The goddamned case has been remanded at least 8 times, and the mother of Nkosinathi, Kholeka (AKA "The smiling villain" according to Khaki, who used to employ her) has to carry the cost of transport to and from court, and, obviously, the bail. It's actually a well-known tactic of the local magistrate (Tshebe) to remand cases infinindefinitely(sp!) so that eventually the victim (ahem... culprit) misses a court date and forfeits the bail money. It happened with the R1000 bail I put up for the Rasta here in 2006, who was arrested for about 2 grams of dope. He missed the 9th remandment IIRC. FFS! Never mind I also lost an additional R2 grand for the contempt of court charge when I told the magistrate what I thought of him. Ouchy. But we live and learn.

In any event, about 2 weeks ago now, one of Goodman's guards, Elizabeth, came to me in tears one evening claiming that Goodman molested her. My first thought was that he'd sexually assaulted her, but actually she's a bookworm and that was the exact correct word to use. It turned out that she had been paid R1,274 per month for the approximately 6 months she'd been here; but Goodman came up to her at the gatepost at the hotel and insisted that she sign a short-term contract for 10 months at an amount of R1000 only. When she protested he grabbed her by the lapel of her jacket and shook her and tried to intimidate her into signing the agreement at a 25% or so reduction in salary. This happened in front of witnesses.

So I told her we should go to the police and charge him for assault, or at least see what we could do to ensure his behaviour does not continue, nor go unpunished. It so happens that Goodman is an ex-policeman; but in any case the charge office constable said that without any physical bruising or sign of the attack there is no way that the assault charge could stick. So he recommended that she go to the magistrate's court in Mqanduli as soon as possible and request a protection order; so that if it does happen again, he will be arrested. But I digress. Since that time especially, but actually before he'd promised and failed to withdraw the charge against the 16 year old Nkosinathi, I must say I don't really have the time of day for Goodman, and only afford him a curt "hullo" at best. I even mentioned to him that I'm aware of his bullying one of his female staff and that "what comes around, goes around."

So last Sunday morning he was at our front door at 7:15AM yelling (in his melodic dulcet tones that sound, actually, like a cross between a chainsaw and a croaking bullfrog) for Mister Brown. So I went out to tell him that Mr Brown snr has an injured leg and could he please come back at a more reasonable hour sometime after 8AM, and I left him standing at  the door and went back to my computer. A minute later I heard him coughing in the doorway, so I went out to repeat what I said; only to be met with a tirade from him that I cannot treat him with such disrespect as I am only a child. I told him that I'm 44 years old, and I treat him with the same level of respect as he shows the local residents of the area and his own staff. He carried on shoulting at me for a good couple of minutes, so I asked him to move out of the way of the door so I could close it. He refused to move, and as I tried to close the door, it lightly brushed him on his right arm.

He then started screaming that I was assaulting him, and he even went as far as to say that I had pushed him and slammed the door with vicious force on his arm. I mean, seriously, I'm not just covering my arse here but the fucking bastard is lying to my face saying that I pushed him, and I swear the door hardly brushed him. Certainly not with any force sufficient to cause the slightest pain or damage whatsoever.

So eventually he went away. The following day I got a phone call from one of the other local residents here saying that he just received a phone call from the dept of manpower and that Goodman had laid a complaint against me for assaulting him. Then later the same day I hear from the same resident that Goodman has been to a doctor to get a certificate because I broke his arm. Heh. I later went to speak to Elizabeth and she told me that Goodman has been walking around with his arm in a sling; although sometimes it appears he forgets to wear it.