South African fast-food chain Steers has apologised after employees at its Menlo Park branch in Pretoria were filmed performing gardening work, sparking widespread criticism.
In a statement on X, Steers South Africa said a preliminary investigation found that staff were asked by their manager to remove excessive weed growth due to delayed maintenance by the landlord.
“While keeping a clean exterior is important, this work should not be carried out by team members. This is not standard practice at Steers and is unacceptable. It’s clear that these individuals made the wrong call,” the company said.
The video, which has gone viral, shows one employee responding “only God know” when asked why he was doing gardening work. The man who recorded the clip confronts the manager and confiscates gardening tools, shouting: “This is an abuse of workers. Why do you do this with Black people? This is nonsense. These are not gardeners.”
Steers said it regrets the incident and is reviewing procedures to ensure such situations do not occur again.