War against humanity

Good morning

Case no. HN111/89 industrial court Pretoria This is a story about Coca-Cola, a company that’s love and adored by many… however this one its about the horrible crime that was committed by South African Coca-Cola abi Bellerose.

For years they've have been secretly working on a plan to personally make millions. They needed someone who was willing to get his hands dirty. In 1990 they got Mr. Bosman, the man that introduced a owners driver's system, that promised to save Coca-Cola millions! Truck owner's were the most important piece to their plan. Their role was to have their own crewman contractually under them and ultimately help Coke get rid of the permanent staff.

In 1992 Coke and Mr Bosman initiated the Owner’s driver's system, 131 innocent man were unfairly dismissed. It was alleged that they assaulted a driver (Mr Nthaba). Mr. Harris the men's manager tried to reason with his colleagues, De Villiers, Vicky Roger and Lizzy, he suggested that they should punish them by giving them warnings, and take their bonuses and leave pay, and they refused.

Coke had a list of people they wanted to get rid off, they used a swipe system the men use to gain access with, because of it they were placed on the scene, some men were fired whilst off duty. Mr. Nthaba (driver) alleged that all 131 men assaulted him; with no hesitation, Mr.Bosman fired them on 5th March 1992 via intercom. Coke did not follow correct procedures, they fired them without a warning, or a letter of dismissal.

The men tried reasoning with Mr. De Villiers from HR he was rude, and unreasonable the men told him that they were taking this matter further; he chuckled and rep**** “you can go to court and most definitely you'll win, but we won’t reinstate you and you won’t get your money” he furthermore added that “Coke has three full baskets of money, you guys won’t even finish the first one”. With the help of the drivers the men were thrown out… because of a job well done, Coke was so pleased that they bought all the Truck Owner's brand new Mercedes Benz. This deal saved Coke millions and that meant more bonuses and benefits for everyone etc.

On the 18 of February 1994 the court asked for Mr. Nthaba (driver), and he was no where to be found. The court asked the company’s doctor, Mrs. Allsop, how injured was Mr Nthaba? she cried and ran out of court and never came back! The court asked Coke if their driver was hospitalized and they rep**** no, instead said “we fired the other guys because they where singing whilst Mr. Nthaba was being assaulted” and the court asked if the security guards saw anything, apparently "they saw nothing". The court saw that, Coke did not follow correct procedures in disciplining the 131 men and because of lack of evidence, Coke lost the case.

The men's victory was short lived, Mr. Gilbert Marcus (advocate) broke the sad news, he started by saying “this case is difficult", and guys you must seek employment elsewhere, because your Union F.A.W.U has been compromised, and they agreed to Coke’s terms. Such as: no reinstatement, no bonuses, no retirement fund and Coke is only prepared to pay at least 2 or 3 last men standing, not the whole lot of you. When the guys protested for reinstatement, Coke declined all their demands and told them they appealed and they won the case.

Our father Mr. Sonwabo Artwell Tshazibane was part of the 131 crewmen, he worked there for many years and when he realized that he had nothing to show for; he slipped into a depression and on 11th July 1995 our dear father was pronounced dead. It was difficult for our mother to fill my father’s shoes, we went from having the world being our oyster, to having our mother forced to go to work even when ill. Coke ****** us of our youth; we were forced to drop out of school to help around the house.

South African Coca-Cola abi Belrose has this sick tendency of listing its employees as dead or deleting them from their sever, to ***** their benefits and retirement funds etc. My father was a victim as well, they did so that there's no trace that he ever worked for Coke; when we told the fellow men, they said “Coke listed a whole lot of us as deceased, to ***** our benefits, if you need us to testify on our comrade's behalf, "we would be honoured"…

Mr Nthaba (driver); confessed years later, “for being a sacrificial lamb he was greatly rewarded” and as part of his apology he agreed to assist the men. When asked why now he said he feared for his life. Its been 30 years since the crewmen lost their jobs and most are no longer with us, " including my father" there’s about plus, minus 50 that still live...