TopBet, one of South Africa's biggest gambling franchises, has condemned the actions at its Germiston branch in which women staff were strip-searched. The company has apologised to the women for the harm it caused.
According to EWN, three female clerks at TopBet were allegedly forced by management to undress and undergo "inspection" by the cleaners, after a small amount of blood was found in a staff toilet. They were accused by branch management of being "dirty" and "disgusting" and "leaving menstrual blood in the toilet".
After none of the supposed "culprits" took responsibility for the incident, the manager threatened to deal with them "decisively".
"She asked who left blood in the toilet – then asked the cleaners to 'check' who left blood in the toilet. If you resisted, you would face severe punishment," one of the women who was strip-searched said.
TopBet issued a statement saying the employee responsible has been suspended pending the outcome of a disciplinary hearing. The three female staffers said they wanted the Department of Labour to intervene regarding the incident.
"Managers constantly remind us of how they can't do anything wrong in the bosses' eyes, saying they can get away with anything as the bosses believe them over us. We'd like to see some intervention, so that all of us are treated equally."