The Clifton Bungalow Waiter Has His Job Back After '2 Blacks' Incident

He resumed work today.
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Mike Dzange in a screengrab from his televised apology.
eNCA

Mike Dzange, the waiter at The Bungalow who was temporarily suspended over a racial profiling incident, has been re-appointed and started working again on Friday, a spokesperson for the restaurant told Huffington Post South Africa.

"Yes, the investigation is over," said Michellene Leo, marketing manager for the restaurant. "He has retained his job and he is back at The Bungalow from today. He was reappointed with immediate effect."

The restaurant faced a backlash when patron Scott Maqetuka tweeted an image of his bill describing he and his dining partner as "2 blacks".

Dzange, who served Maqetuka, was suspended pending an inquiry.

Leo said she was "not at liberty" to disclose further results from the internal investigation.

Dzange, a Zimbabwean national, appeared on eNCA on Tuesday night, to apologise for printing "2 blacks" on the bill for the table he was serving at the Bungalow in Clifton. One of the black patrons in question took to social media to complain about the restaurant and the story has made headlines since.

In the interview, Dzange, acknowledged that he's done this before, including with tables of white people. But he insisted it was not company policy.

He's been working at the The Bungalow in Clifton for eight years.

Cape Town restaurants have repeatedly been the centre of allegations of racism, with anecdotal evidence frequently surfacing of black people being denied tables which their white counterparts easily get. It has even led one columnist to create a safe list for black diners of restaurants where they could be sure to receive a welcome.

According to Leo's comments during the eNCA segment, the system has been changed so that waiters cannot manually enter descriptors for the tables they are serving. They will have to use table numbers, which is the company policy.