Avoid Assault and/or Harassment - Give Chamberlains Kyalami Corner a Miss!

Chamberlains – Kyalami Corner. A branch of the Chamberlains Hardware Store recently opened at Kyalami Corner. On 20 December 2020 at approximately 09h00, I decided to pay this store a visit to get some wall paint mixed, this in lieu of the other many similar stores in the area. This turned out to be a momentous mistake! What should have been a pleasant shopping experience without incident, nothing was further from the truth ! The South African Constitution ‘guarantees’ a person’s dignity. It specifically states that this right is non-derogable. Further, Section 14 of the Bill of Rights in the South African Constitution, inter alia states that ‘Everyone has the right to privacy …………’ There is also in South African law a definition for harassment which inter alia contains the following wording ‘harassment means unwanted conduct which is persistent that creates a hostile or intimidating environment ………………’ On entering Chamberlains Kyalami store, the first priority was to get paint colour matched Firstly, payment was required before the paint mixing process would commence! I had already been harassed by walking halfway down the length of the store to the paint section, this by store personnel barging into my space wanting to know if they could be of any assistance? This procedure was then repeated as one walked back, halfway down the length of the store to pay for the mixing of the paint. Needless to say I had to walk, halfway back the length of store to give the payment receipt to the paint section and more of ‘same old, same old harassment………………………………………………… . Where one thought that paint mixing t could be done in a short period of time and one could just wait at the counter, this was definitely not the case. So, to minimise the wastage of time a decision was made to embark on the rest of the shopping that needed to be done. The moment I stepped away from the paint counter one started to be accosted again with ‘Is there anything that I can assist you with or some or other confrontation in a similar vein? After what was deemed a reasonable period of time, a return to the paint counter was made to find that the process had not been finalised so there was a return to the aisles to pass the time, again one was hounded by staff members wishing to know ‘Is there anything that I can assist you with or some other confrontation in a similar vein? These confrontations were deemed as nothing less than harassment and an outright invasion of my space. I returned again to the paint counter to collect my colour matched paint to find that it was still not ready. On this occasion I was offered a coupon for a complimentary cup of coffee. This I turned down, and again set off to run the gauntlet of staff invading my privacy with ‘Is there anything that I can assist you with or something other in a similar vein? On this occasion, I came across an elderly individual who appeared to be the ‘Store Floor Manager’. I voiced my irritation at being continually harassed by Chamberlain’s staff to which he in essence shrugged his shoulders, commenting that they were performing their job! Eventually my colour matched paint was ready and I progressed to the tills to pay for the goods that I had selected, having spent about three quarters of an hour in the store. Having paid in full for everything in my trolley, I then proceeded to leave the store. Once outside the doors, I was assaulted by an individual who had been standing near the doors and physically pushed back into the store while at the same an attempt was being made to dispossess me of my trolley of goods. At this stage, I went to the customer service desk and requested to see the manager. I spoke briefly to the ‘Store Floor Manager’ and then proceeded to my car to unpack the trolley. During this process, I was approached by the ‘Manager’, ‘Trading Floor Manager’ and AN Other wanting to know what the problem was, after explaining the course of events, the ‘Manager’ merely retorted that the staff were merely doing their job to which I responded that in this case I would not be returning to Chamberlains in Kyalami. What the ‘Manager’ did not seem to appreciate was that the individual at the exit door from the store had just committed ******** assault and that Chamberlains were vicariously liable for the assault. He also did not seem to appreciate that the individual’s behaviour was an incursion into my Constitutional right of dignity by insinuating that I was possibly guilty of shoplifting. The elements of the crime of assault are (a) conduct which results in another person’s bodily integrity being impaired (or the inspiring of a belief in another person that such impairment will take place); (b) ********ness and (c) intention. In this regard it should be noted that the slightest touch can amount to assault, and it is not a requirement of the crime that there was any actual injury.