Justice came swiftly for an estate agent who launched a verbal attack, and pushed and shoved two diners to the ground, in a Johannesburg Restaurant, late last week.
The incident happened, after an anniversary celebration at the restaurant in North Riding, Johannesburg on Friday, November 10. The agent (Pieter Kellett) affiliated to a Rawson Properties Franchise and his son (Juan-Pierre Kellett) who is not employed by Rawson, became embroiled in a verbal altercation with two diners. The diners approached the table where the Rawson agent was seated, and it ended violently when the two diners were pushed to the floor.
The Franchisor and Franchise owners of the employee involved in the incident, met to institute disciplinary action against the agent, which meeting has led to the termination of the agent’s employment with Rawson. The agent, who recently joined Rawson (on the 1st of September 2017), was attending the Rawson Introductory course at the time of the incident.
Rawson has reported the incident to the governing body of the Estate Agency industry, the Estate Agency Affairs Board, who have the right to institute further sanctions on the member concerned.
"I would like to thank the members of the public who brought this unpleasant matter to our attention", said Tony Clarke, MD of the Rawson Property Group. "It was unfortunately interpreted as an attack on homosexuality however, our investigation shows that homophobia wasn’t at the heart of this altercation. The fact remains though, that a Rawson staff member did not conduct himself in the way Rawson policy demands and has embarrassed both himself and our brand. We take responsibility for this incident," said Clarke, “and we apologise to everyone that witnessed this incident and to the community at large”.
Rawson takes pride in the inclusivity of our company and discrimination of any kind - race, gender, or sexual orientation - is not tolerated. More than 1600 people work daily in harmony and without incident for Rawson. These are people of all races, beliefs and sexual preferences.
Clarke said that the North Riding Rawson Franchise, at who’s anniversary function this incident took place, was not involved in the incident in any way. The incident took place after most of the franchise's staff had left the restaurant. The agent involved was, as stated before, from another Rawson Franchise. He and his son had joined the celebration, remained in the restaurant after others had left and was later responsible for the incident.
Clarke added that he had offered the diner support and assistance in taking the matter further, however the diner had declined.
