War of words over nightclub’s ‘hair policy’

A HAIR fracas has broken out at popular Cape Town nightclub Coco after dancers accused management of “natural hair discrimination”.

The dancers said a message was sent to a staff WhatsApp group last Saturday that read: “No one is allowed to come to work with natural hair. It’s either braids or wigs; unfortunately, it’s what management wants.”

The message was sent hours before the dancers were to begin their shift and had staff scrambling to swap their shifts so that they could switch their hairstyles to fit in at work.

Now current and former employees have spoken out about what they said was discriminatory mistreatment directed towards black dancers and the waiting staff.

A dancer who worked at the club for a few years said while she had chosen to leave the club as the announcement was the last straw, there were “other incidents that drove her to quit”.

“Racist comments were always made about our hair. We’ve been told we are stupid and young and as black people, we don’t want to work, which is why they always try to hire white girls,” she said.

“This is very disturbing. How can you tell us not to come to work with our natural hair? Why are you attacking the way that we look? That has nothing to do with our work. The money we get paid is not enough for this.

“Over the last year, things haven’t been great. It’s been very stressful,” she said.

Another employee said the rule that effectively banned natural hair was discriminatory.

“I felt disrespected and I am in shock that a decision like that could be implemented. It’s just wrong,” she said.

“I don’t get paid nearly enough to cover my basic living expenses. How must I afford braids or a wig ?”

While Weekend Argus has seen the messages sent to staff, the club’s management had denied the existence of this new work rule.

“We do not tolerate racism, discrimination or bullying of any kind. An internal investigation was carried out and no evidence was found of such an incident,” the club said in response to queries.

Weekend Argus has also been informed that waiters at the club do not earn a wage or base salary but make an income solely from tips.

Coco management said this was in line with the nature of their business.

“Waitrons are well tipped and accumulate more income through gratuity than most management staff,” they said.

Sparkler girls and hosts are paid R500 a shift for six hours and dancers receive R1 200 a shift. As there are many staff, there is a rotation and staff work between one and three shifts a week.

While the salary might seem apt, this is only enough to cover basic living expenses, according to staff.

As the shifts are often from 10pm to 4am, employees need to cover the cost of an e-hailing service to take them home if they don’t have their own transportation.

There have also been multiple complaints about late payment of salaries but having no avenue for recourse as there were no contracts in place.

“Due to the nature of the industry in which we operate, the majority of our staff are not employed permanently,” the management said.

“(Due to) the present economic climate, on the backdrop of Covid-19 restrictions, our business has suffered financially.”

“We have experienced liquidity issues like most other businesses so we were not always able to make payment on time, which is regrettable.

“We do not owe any member o f staff wages or salary. At worst there were slight delays in them receiving payment.”

The debate on natural hair and questions around discrimination in schools and workplace has been in the spotlight over the past few years after a group of pupils at Pretoria High School staged a protest after being told their Afros were not acceptable.

Several schools in Cape Town have also had protests against hair policies.

Clicks retailers also landed in hot water after a product labelled black hair dry and damaged while white hair was referred to as fine and flat, received widespread condemnation.