Businesses talking down to customers
Firms balk at providing documents in a client’s home language — Zulu
“NEVER will you see a day where Truworths will write to you in isiZulu.” This was the response allegedly given to Mongezi Bolofo when he asked the clothing chain to start communicating with him in his mother tongue.
In a test case for Heritage Month, Bolofo, 31, took on MTN, Discovery, Woolworths and Truworths — demanding they send him his statements, contracts and all other legal documents in Zulu instead of English.
The Pretoria language specialist is armed with sections 63 and 64 of the National Credit Act of 2005, which give a consumer the right to receive documents from a credit provider in an official language they understand.
While MTN and Discovery were open to his request, the two clothing stores saw him as a difficult customer.
When it couldn’t meet his demand, Woolworths referred his case to the National Consumer Tribunal. Truworths blocked his account after he refused to sign documents in English.
“I find it very strange that the clothing stores were not willing to help me. Truworths went as far as forcing me to change my code [language of preference] because the lady who was supposed to help me did not understand my e-mail, which I had sent to her in isiZulu,” said Bolofo.
“She was not even willing to seek help from her colleagues. Instead, she told me that I would never see a day where the clothing shop would communicate with me in isiZulu.
“I warned her that this was discrimination and she was being racist and denying my linguistic rights offered by the constitution. She later avoided my calls.”
When contacted by the Sunday Times this week, Truworths initially said there had been a “miscommunication” between Bolofo and the employee, which had been resolved.
“We had a discussion with Mr Bolofo on [Wednesday],” Truworths marketing executive Peter Shackleton said.
“We resolved to provide Mr Bolofo with a letter of apology from a particular Truworths employee related to an interaction where Mr Bolofo felt he was not appropriately addressed.”
He said the store would give Bolofo the required documents in Zulu.
“Language transformation is an important issue we believe demands attention, and we are certainly committed to continuing to strive to improve our business in this regard. We make every effort to ensure that we engage with our customers in the official language of their choice.”
Woolworths had not responded to questions at the time of going to press.
Bolofo said his grandmother had died last year without ever using her medical insurance hospital plan. “I believe that when she took out the policy, she thought it was a funeral plan. My grandmother knew how to read isiZulu. I think if all the documents were sent to her in the language that she understood, she would have known to claim from it.”
Bolofo said that often when he visited KwaMashu, his home town, neighbours would ask him to translate letters from banks, and municipal accounts. “People sign things that they do not understand because they are written in technical English,” he said.
Thoko Mkhwanazi-Xaluva, chairwoman of the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities, said customers had the right to demand service in a language they preferred and understood.
Pan South African Language Board communications manager Sibusiso Nkosi said the board received many complaints from Afrikaans speakers about government departments that provided information only in English.
The board is investigating a case lodged by workers at the British high commission who claim they were banned from speaking any language but English at work.