Dear Sir or Madam,

What I have recently heard leaves even me, as a white person, speechless and cannot be tolerated in any way.

I am a German citizen and was on holiday in Cape Town. Friends of mine were staying at the Radisson Collection Hotel in Cape Town.

As they are very interested in the country and its people, they often got into longer conversation with the hotel staff and what they learnt was very mind-blowing.

Since the hotel has a new general manager, and I am ashamed to say that she is also German (young, blond and arrogant), there is fear and unrest in the hotel.

This new director apparently ignores all South African laws and is already being labelled ‘Hitler’ internally by the staff.

She has cancelled all transport allowances for the black employees who live in townships. Her statement: they should see for themselves how they get to work on time.

Black employees sometimes only get half the pay for the same work as their white colleagues. A lot dont even have proper work contracts.

As a matter of principle, black employees are not greeted by the new general manager. They only receive commands from her.

When there is less work, they are sent home and have less income because they are paid by the hour and do not have a proper employment contract.

Even my friends who stayed in the hotel for a few days could see with their own eyes how this new director acts and behaves like a "white god" and how she obviously despises people of dark skin colour.

It must have escaped her notice that apartheid no longer exists. But the Germans are known worldwide for their authoritarian, arrogant and domineering behaviour. And the new director is behaving in exactly the same way.

She obviously sees all employees who do not have white skin colour as her property and her slaves. That's downright cheeky and I've been advised to contact you and point out these massive abuses of black people. I despise this.

Perhaps you can put an end to this disgusting behaviour of the new general manager and this also applies to the entire Radisson Group, which is in European hands. Her job is it obviously to reduce staff costs and to increase the profit - and this in a hotel which has just been upgraded to Radisson Collection - what a discrace. They charge more than R 10,000 per room but some staff only gets paid R 4,000 per month - is this fair??? Nobody can live of such little money.

But was it really interesting and "funny". Though the new general manager is married, she obviously has a sexual affair with a colored manager at the hotel, which is also definitely illegal.

It is up to you what you will do now but something has to be done.

Sincere regards

Peggy Ludewig
Dresden, Germany