Johannesburg – The Netcare Group says an employee who was this week accused of dumping one of her dogs on the side of the road, had in fact been nursing her distressed dog, and she will now take legal action against the person who falsely accused her.
The woman, who had been clad in Netcare uniform, had been accused of dumping her dog by Madaleini Nel, who confronted the woman about allegedly dumping her dogs.
In a Facebook post which has since gobe viral and been shared more than 6 000 times, Nel accused the employee of dumping the dog on the side of the road.
The viral post has yet to be deleted as of Friday.
Nel wrote: “This is what a person looks like that dumps a dog next to the road. When I saw what she did and confronted her… she told me to mind my own business and loaded the dog in the car and sped off.
“Unfortunately I was on the opposite side of the busy road with my car open and when I turned around to follow her she was out of sight
“She obviously dumped the doggy somewhere else. Please be on the look out
“Let”s make this lady famous for dumping a dog next to the road,” she wrote, tagging the Netcare Unitas Hospital as well as the SPCA.
Nel, in an interview with TimesLIVE, said she confronted the woman on Monday afternoon out of concern for the pets.
“I want to know where the animal is and whether it is safe,” she told TimesLive.
After the complaints about the alleged behaviour of the employee, Netcare conducted its own investigation and has since cleared the employee of any wrongdoing.
Netcare’s human resources and transformation director, Dr Nceba Ndzwayiba, said the staffer co-operated with their investigation and they had since concluded that the complainant made “incorrect assumptions about the situation”.
“Our colleague voluntarily approached the SPCA to do an inspection at her home.
“Netcare has had sight the formal letter provided by the SPCA upon conclusion of their investigation.
“The letter states that an inspection of the dogs belonging to the staff member in question was conducted on 7 October 2021, noting one black, male cross Border Collie and one male cross Rottweiler.
“It also states that both dogs appeared to be healthy and had access to food, water and shelter,” said Ndzwayiba.
Ndzwayiba said the staffer had reported to Netcare that she had been driving with her dogs, which she felt safer with, after traumatic criminal incidences she had faced recently.
“She stated that on this particular occasion the dog began whining, so she stopped the car to attend to it. It seems the passer-by then pulled over and began to interfere, which our colleague took umbrage to, and she put her pet back in the car and drove home.
“The passer-by took photographs of this event, without permission, and posted them online along with her own assumptions that this was an attempt to abandon the dog.
“As a result, our colleague has been publicly berated and maligned.
“Public outrage about the unfounded post has reached such proportions that the family are now afraid to drive their own vehicle, for fear of being harassed or attacked.
“They have decided to take legal action against the individual who misinterpreted the event and who has caused them a great deal of harm by levelling these false accusations against them on social media,” said Ndzwayiba.
He said Netcare would arrange counselling to assist the employee and her family.
“This has truly been a terrible ordeal for our colleague and her family, for whom Netcare is arranging counselling to assist them in overcoming this traumatic experience.
“ We trust that the information provided in this statement brings some much needed clarity to the situation and that the family will now be left in peace to recover,” said Ndzwayiba.
IOL