Times of testing
Now, it’s been months since the building project began. Lot of ground has been covered and the work has gone flawlessly. Qhawe and his family are doing great and stressful days are but a thing of the past. Even the kids have developed some sort of a routine with their parents: Weekends belong to the family. It is either a movie night or a day at the park. The kids are doing well at school. Even Nothemba is almost finished with her book because now things seem to be back to normal. At work, Qhawe’s friend, Themba has legal side of things working and everyone is performing at their best abilities.Qhawe is sitting at his desk working when a call comes through, “Yes Grace” he answers. *Grace talks from the other line*… “Did I miss that appointment or what?” Qhawe says as he looks puzzled. *Again Grace talks from the other side of the line*… “Okay” he seems more puzzled, “Okay fine send him in, I think I have few minutes to spare.” he says as he seems curious but yet a little uneasy as he drops the phone and leans back to his swinging chair.
A moment later there’s a knock on the door. “Come in” Qhawe says as he straightens up. A man in a nicely tailored; seemingly Italian suit comes through the door. Qhawe stands up and stretches his arm towards the gentleman. “Oh Mr.…” he pauses for a second as it seems he has forgotten the name. “Smith…John Smith” the man says with a polite voice accompanied with a smile. “Oh yes, uhmm, I’m sorry Mr. Smith.” He is a little embarrassed. “Please sit down” as he points to the chair. And Smith it’s down.
There is this weird or awkward moment of silence in the room and Qhawe picks up the phone, “Grace, can you please bring us tea and coffee please? Thank you.” he says as he quickly puts down the phone and the moment of silence continues as Smith is looking around the office at the paintings, artefact and pictures on the walls.
“I see you were in the army,” Smith says as he looks at one of the pictures in the wall. “Oh yes, that was a very long time ago,” Qhawe responds but he doesn’t know how to start the conversation because he found it strange that a person who had no prior appointment shows up at his office and he looked like a government person, yet at the back of his head he is curious.
“So Mr Smith, to what do I owe this pleasure?” he says with a smile. “Please call me John.” Smith interrupts. “You know I don’t usually allow unscheduled appointments. They set a bad precedent.” Qhawe says in a very polite way yet wanting to make his point clear. “Oh I’m sorry, it is my fault. It was a spare of the moment thing. And it is something that couldn’t wait.” Smith says seemingly embarrassed.
They are interrupted by Grace who had brought refreshments. “Thank you Grace.” Qhawe says as Grace closes the door on her way out. “John Please help yourself.” Qhawe says as he pours himself some tea. “So,” he leans back, “what is it that is the spare of the moment thing that couldn’t wait for a proper appointment?” he asks jokingly which is something they both laugh about.
John also leans back. “Mr. Nkosi, I have a business proposal for you.” he says. Qhawe’s eyes brightens because there's nothing he loves more than discussing business at work. “Oooh okay” he says as he straightens up again. “What kind of business proposal?” he asks curiously. John straightens up as well and smiles because he sees he has caught Qhawe’s attention.
He unbuttons his coat. “I have a project that will start soon in the up market area in Dann City. We will be building a mall. My company won the tender,” he says with a smile. “What is the name of your company again?” Qhawe interrupts him as he asks. “It is called Cornerstone Build industrial.” Smith says. Qhawe listens with interest, “Oh yeah I know that company. Go on.” he says. John takes a sip and says, “We basically manufacture building materials, like cement, bricks, pillars etc.” Qhawe looks a little puzzled trying to figure out why is John here then.
“Oh, congratulations on winning the tender, so how can I be of service to you?” he asks curiously. John smiles, “Thank you very much…well I would like to give you the tender to do the job. I have been following your work closely and you have done a great job. Your work is impressive. So, I would like you to be involved in this Dann City project.” he says as he smiles. And Qhawe seems excited and pleasantly surprised at the same time. Yet he knows there is a lingering question: what’s in it for him?
He leans back and swings his chair and takes a minute to think. “Oh okay, so your proposal is what exactly? To offer me this project, in exchange for what? Because as far as I know about Cornerstone Build Industrial is that they have done dealings with many construction companies many times before. So what’s in it for you?”
John folds his legs as a man in control of the situation. “Oh well Mr. Nkosi, I thought you would never ask.” he says as he takes a sip. “This Dann city project is yours…if you make us your supplier for the remainder of your current building project.” Qhawe looks confused but Smith continues, “We will supply cement, bricks and generally all the other building materials. And then in the Dann City project you will sub-contract anyone you want but we will remain the material supplier. I hope that has incentivized you enough to agree to the deal proposal.” he says with lots of confidence.
“So what do you say? You need time to think about it? But bear in mind Mr. Nkosi, in such deals time is an issue so don’t take too long. So I…” he doesn’t finish as Qhawe interrupts him, “Uhmm, Mr. Smith, I will have to turn you down, I’ sorry.” he says to which John is stone-faced, “excuse me?” he asks as he is clearly he is shocked.
“I’m going to have to turn you down, John. I already have my loyal suppliers who I have been working with for years now. And their services are good, I trust them. They have quality material. Don’t even mention the fact that I have a contract with them and that’s on principle. So you see, this can’t work. I’m sorry John but thank you for considering me.” Qhawe says with a strong voice.
John immediately stands up looking unimpressed, “Well I can’t say I’m not disappointed” he says as he shakes Qhawe’s hand. Qhawe looks at him and smiles. “Well I hope you get someone else who can do even a better job than we could have.” he says. “Let me walk you out.” They both leave the office. Qhawe walks John to his car. He has a bodyguard waiting for him, who opens the door for him.
Qhawe looks on and feels here is something weird about that. Why would John need a body guard? This is not even a dangerous industry like the Taxis.
But he ignores the feeling and goes back to his office.
***
At home, he is gazing through the window seemingly in deep thought.
Nothemba is busy putting the laundry in the machine. The kids are already asleep. Nothemba notices the quietness with her husband. “Oh, I know that scene” she says coming over to him. “What scene?” Qhawe asks as he turns around. “Staring through the window quietly scene? But it hasn’t happened in a long time.” Nothemba says as she holds him from behind. “What’s up my husband? What or who is worrying you? Just give them my number and I will sort them out.” She smiles trying to cheer him up.
Qhawe sighs heavily, “Arg baby today I had a very strange or weird visitor who came with a business proposal.” he says with a worried voice. Now Nothemba looks curious, “What do you mean weird?” she asks.
Qhawe pulls Nothemba and sits her on the sofa, “For starters, he had no appointment. He said it’s a spare of the moment thing.” he says. Nothemba holds his hands, “Okay baby, what is weird about that? It could be that it was just a spare of the moment thing and he had no time to make an appointment.” she insists but Qhawe takes a drink and sips, “Well, he looked like a serious government person and…he had a bodyguard. Why would you need a bodyguard in our line of work?” he thinks curiously.
“Do you know him? I mean have you ever seen him from TV…I mean like the news?” asks Nothemba who is now also curious. “No I have never seen him before but maybe it’s just me but I just have a bad feeling about it. Anyways, I turned him down.” Qhawe says as his wife looks relieved,
“Okay good, because it’s always better to know people before you do business with them” she says as she walks to the laundry machine to continue with the laundry. “okay baby I will go to sleep now. Please don’t stay up too long.” Qhawe says he kisses her on the cheek. “Okay baby I will be there in a bit.”
***
Weeks pass on and it seems the dark suit guy Qhawe was worried about is the thing of the past. Work is great. The building project is really doing well. Life at home is great. Everyone is happy, the Nkosi family could get used to this.
“Wow look who made the news again this week” Nothemba says with a smile. “Let me see that” Qhawe comes over and he takes the newspaper from his wife. “Hmmm nice picture” he says as he smiles proudly. “I hope you are not thinking about getting a new young sexy PA now” Nothemba says with a little sight of jealousy. “Too late” Qhawe says and he looks like a guilty little boy. “What?” Nothemba shouts with a stone-face, “What did you do?” she asks but Qhawe bursts out laughing.
“That is not funny babe, you better not be messing with me, because I will lose it and come to your work.” Nothemba says which leads to Qhawe bursts out laughing again, this time even louder. “I’m just messing with you baby. Of course I will never do that hawu" he says. "Though I do need an assistant honestly. Work is piling up and more business offers…” Nothemba looks at him and is not sold.
“Seriously baby. But tell you what, so far Grace is doing a great job. But once she complains about loads of work I will have to start looking for help to assist her. And I know you trust Grace, right?” Qhawe asks. Nothemba now seems relaxed and she miles, “Of course I trust her babe." she says. "But on a serious note baby, I am really proud of you. You are humble and very much down to earth even with all this new found fame” she kisses him in the forehead.
“It’s not fame hawu” Qhawe says as he kisses her, “This couldn’t have been possible without all the working team, they have been on top of their game.
And then there is you and the kids. You guys are my pillar. And I am so grateful to the Lord for you guys.” as he kisses her again.
“And you?” Qhawe pulls her to himself on the couch and caresses her hair, “Are you ready for your book launch on Friday?” He asks with a smile. “Oh I’m so nervous baby you have no idea.” Nothemba says. Qhawe kisses her in the hair, “You will do great baby and I’m so proud of you. And your book will become a best seller I am telling you.” he says. That brings a smile in Nothemba’s face, “you really think so baby?” she says looking up. “Oh yes my love and you better start working on your acceptance speech for the best seller,” Qhawe says as he plays with her hair.
“Hmmm” Nothemba mumbles as she is charmed, “I can’t wait baby. And you have been my super hero too you know” She kisses him, “O yeah?” Qhawe is impressed with himself, “Like who? Superman? Batman? Spiderman?” he kisses her, “Uhmm, like Batman” Nothemba says. Qhawe looks puzzled, “Why Batman? Bats are sleeping during the day and working at night.” he says as he kisses her again. “Well, that’s exactly my point” Nothemba says with a naughty look. “Like you are my silent hero. He puts in a lot of work without being noticed and never claims the glory.” Qhawe is impressed with himself, “Hmmm” as he kisses her.
“But then again, having my own Spiderman wouldn’t be a bad idea.” Nothemba says with a tongue out naughtiness as she bursts Qhawe’s bubble. “No baby, you see now, that is not funny.” he says with a low voice.
Nothemba bursts out laughing, “Oh yeah, you see now?” She is so pleased with herself, “You and your young sexy PA and me with my hero Spiderman.” She laughs hysterically. “Oh you have jokes huh?” Qhawe says as he looks so unimpressed while his wife is having a time of her life.
All this bonding is disturbed by their kids who come through the lounge. “Hey guys, you ready for the mall and clothes shopping?” Nothemba asks the kids who scream with excitement, “Yey” Naledi jumps to her mommy. “Okay let me go change and we will go okay? Daddy can’t come over because a friend from work is coming over, so he has work.” she says to the kids who look a little disappointed. “Oh no kids he will join you another time okay?” Nothemba reassures them and the kids nod.
“Besides, we may bump into Spiderman at the mall” she smiles naughtily. The kids scream in excitement. “hayi, hayi baby, that’s not funny” Qhawe says but Nothemba bursts out laughing as she goes upstairs to change. “Kids” Qhawe kneels in front of them, “When you see Spiderman, run from him, he’s a very bad man. And two; don’t talk to strangers.” A distant voice is heard laughing loud, “I heard that, hahaha”
***
While Nothemba and the kids were in the mall free time presented a great opportunity for Qhawe to catch up on work with Themba. They had a barbecue and had a chilled working day.
“Hey man, unlike you my wife is waiting at home.” Themba says jokingly. “I will see you on Monday morning.” They walk to the door, “Thanks a lot man, for all the hard work?” They hug, “It’s all good man” Themba says as he breaks the hug.
“Oh look, now I have my wife home.” Qhawe says cheekily as Nothemba pulls to the driveway and coming out with the kids. “Hey Themba, how are you?” Nothemba greets and they hug. “Give Zinhle my love okay?” Themba smiles and says “will do” says as he gets in his car, and drives off.
Qhawe kisses his wife and the kids, helps them with all the bags and helps them into the house. “So, I hope you cooked” Nothemba says as she closes the door. Yeah baby of course.” Qhawe says as he smiles, “we had a barbecue so I left some for you guys” Nothemba is charmed, “You see why you are my batman” she kisses him. “yeah, yeah, yeah.” Qhawe says as he seems impressed.
After supper, the kids have gone to bed; Qhawe is just chilling in the sofa but he can’t help but notice Nothemba’s quietness. “Honey, are you okay? You’ve been awfully quiet. Come here, talk to me.” as he pulls her to the couch and sits her down, “What’s wrong baby?” he asks curiously. Nothemba sighs before saying, “It may be nothing baby, but I had a feeling that we were being followed today.” This gets Qhawe’s attention, “What do you mean baby?” he asks curiously as he sits straight.
“I mean…there was this car behind us from when we left the house. It took every turn we took.” Nothemba says with a worried face. This is beginning to trouble Qhawe who says “Are you sure baby?” to which Nothemba nods because she’s a little shaken.
“I didn’t make a big deal of it initially because it could have been someone going to the mall just like we were and as it turned out this car was going to the mall. But while we were there moving from one shop to another I could sense on my shoulder that someone was following us throughout the time.” Nothemba says. Qhawe stands up from the sofa, “Jesus…baby” he says whispering. Nothemba stands up too as they hug.
“Even on our way back, the same car was tailing us.” Nothemba continues. Both of them seem devastated. They talk about it for a while comforting each other. “Uhmm baby I’m not sure exactly who these people are. I mean we don’t have enemies, not here; not at work.” Qhawe says as he is thinking hard and this is bothering him. “Baby, maybe it was just a co-incidence, let’s not push an unnecessary panic button ok?” he tries to reassure his wife who nods, they hug and talk for a while then they go to bed.
***
After a week things are back to normal. At work things are running just as smooth. Qhawe had been on a business trip for a few days which promised to open new opportunities. So everything is looking up.
He is standing by the window of his office thinking deep when there is a knock on the door, “Hey man, do you have a moment?” It is Themba. “Oh hey man, come in” Qhawe responds. Themba can tell something is up with Qhawe, he keeps looking around and every sound makes him uncomfortable.
“Are you okay boss?” Themba, asks with some concern. “No, I’m…uhmm” Qhawe seems to be lost for words, “I’m okay man,” He leans back on his chair, “Nothemba feels that there is someone who has been following her lately…the past week to be precise. But since I was away to Canada from Thursday to Saturday nothing happened, thank God. I almost didn’t go.” he says with a worried face.
“What do you mean?” asks Themba as he sits down on the chair. “I don’t know man; it could be just a coincidence but this was just worrying so…” Qhawe says. There’s a moment of silence. “Arg man, it could just have been a coincident, I mean who would follow your wife? You don’t have enemies, right? And you were away for a few days and nothing happened to them” Themba reassures him.
“Yeah I know man, it’s just that when I was away I couldn’t be reached at all and that had me worried throughout the time. I got home Saturday night and Sunday I was asleep throughout the day and we never spoke about if something strange happened while I was away. Maybe she didn’t want to worry me.” Qhawe says with a worried face.
Themba sighs “Let’s not worry about something that is nothing hey because on the other hand we have things to worry about” he says to which Qhawe straightens up, “What do you mean? What things to worry about?” he asks curiously. At that, Themba takes out the envelope and pulls out some documents, “This my friend.” Qhawe grabs them, “What are these?” as he has a look at them.
“This is a report and invoices and receipts of the material we procured for the construction sites.” Themba says as he leans back. “What about them?”
Qhawe jumps in. Themba clears his throat, before saying, “There was an incident at the site, part of the building collapsed last week, and on inspection, the material used on that building wasn’t from the one we usually purchased.” Out of shock Qhawe shouts, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, what do you mean last week? My phone was never off, how come I never heard of anything about this?” He is shocked.
“Actually your phone was off, no one could reach you, remember?” Themba interjects as he doesn’t like saying this one bit to his friend. “How did that material make it to the site anyways?” Qhawe asks as he leans back seemingly disturbed. “Oh well my friend you are asking the wrong question.” Themba says as he sighs too.
He then shows Qhawe one documents, “The real question is, how your signature made its way to these receipts and invoices.” He hands them over to Qhawe and he looks at them, “What the hell?” he is wide-eyed as he straightens up, “I have never signed for any of these I swear to you. This…” he doesn’t finish as Themba interrupts, “Well this sure does look like yours.”
Qhawe looks at him with a little annoyed face, “And you think this is mine?” he gives him a cold look. “No, calm down my friend of course I know it’s not yours. But these are the questions you must expect the next couple of weeks.” Themba says trying to calm his friend down. Qhawe has a worried face about him, “But how did someone forge my signatures? And exactly who did this?” he asks as he leans back.
“I had these from HR, they had them from site management.” Themba says, to which Qhawe sighs, “I may have to head to site, as in now. I need to get to the bottom of this before it gets out of hand.” He says as he keeps on looking at the documents. “Don’t worry, we will find out what is going on, my friend.” Themba reassures a visibly stunned Qhawe.
***
On site Qhawe arrives and there seems to be some hype and commotion happening. When looks across where he will be making his entrance, there is a contingents of reporters waiting. Further up, there is a group of clearly dissatisfied workers, making noise and seems they are also waiting for him. "Great, this is the last thing I needed", he thinks out loud as he is annoyed.
At the gate he slows down because the reporters are making it difficult for him. His window is open. “Excuse me, excuse me please” he shouts at them, “Can I pass?” This seems like an invite. Reporter 1: “Mr. Nkosi do you care to comment on the incident that happened here last week?” Reporter 2: “Have you consulted the family of the deceased?” Reporter 3: “Mr. Nkosi will the work continue?” Reporter 2: “Mr. Nkosi people want answers, who is responsible for this tragedy?” Reporter 1: “What about the cheap the material you used that killed one of your workers”
All the while all Qhawe wants to do is to get to the site office. He is even shocked at hearing that a worker died through this tragedy. This is the nightmare he never thought of. In his parking space there is also a number of reporters waiting for him. He couldn’t have picked the worst day to visit the site. He parks his car, and now he has to come out. He can’t sit there the whole day, eventually he has to face the questions. Themba did mention that he will be facing tough questions over the next weeks.
He is greeted by a sea of questions as he jumps out. Reporter 1: “Mr. Nkosi, Mr. Nkosi” the reporter shouts. Reporter 2 “Mr. Nkosi please issue a statement sir” The journalists kept shouting as Qhawe walks to the office and he decides he is fed up. He turns around, “People, people please calm down." he says. "What has happened here is a regrettable tragedy. I am here to find out and get to the bottom of it. Once I have established all the fact I promise I will issue a statement. Thank you.” as he turns to walk. “Mr. Nkosi” … “Mr. Nkosi”… “Mr. Nkosi” the voices of reporters continue to shout the loudest. He ignores tem and quickly enters the site office.
***
“Does anyone care to tell me what the hell happened here and why I was never informed of this?” Qhawe says as he storms into the office full of management staff. There is silence in the room. “Well, is anyone going to answer me? My phone is working, why was not I told about this?” He is fuming with anger. The silence continues, everyone is looking at each other like teenagers before the headmaster.
Qhawe keeps quiet waiting for an answer. No one has ever seen him this upset before. Others seem like they want to get out of the office but there is no way, Qhawe is standing at the door.
“Well sir, all of us are just as confused.” That is Jimmy, who is the site manager. “How is that confusing, exactly Jimmy? You have my direct line and cell phone. When a building collapse, how difficult can it be to pick up the bloody phone and call me?” Qhawe asks, spitting fire.
Jimmy interrupts, “This was last week Thursday afternoon sir and the worker who got injured in that incident was only confirmed dead this morning. We couldn’t get you on the phone, no one could, frankly” he says. This seems to be setting Qhawe off, “But Jimmy that was last week Thursday, today is Monday. So four days I don’t hear a damn thing? Make me understand this because I don’t.” he is trying to calm himself down.
“Qhawe remember we couldn’t reach you but I am sure you have seen a number of emails regarding this.” Jimmy says. Qhawe grabs the chair, “I only came back on Saturday night. I couldn’t be reached from Thursday, but…” he sighs as he thinks for a second, “I just couldn’t open my emails on Sunday, demit” he bangs the table which scares everyone.
“So Jimmy, what exactly happened? How did we get the material, which by the look of things is the reason for this?” Who made the order?” he asks curiously. Everyone looks puzzled, they look at each other. “What?” Qhawe asks because he sees everyone looking confused. “Well, Sir, we were told you personally changed the order and suppliers and signed off everything.” Jimmy says with a puzzled face. Qhawe looks shocked as he asks, “who told you that?”
“Steward” a voice shouts from the back, Qhawe stands up, “Bheki, who the hell is Steward?” he asks as he is panicking. “From head office at HR!!!” Bheki says, puzzled. “I don’t know any Steward from HR.” Qhawe says. He sits back on his chair,
“Bheki you are the procurement officer, since when do I ever change suppliers or even do anything without speaking to you and Jimmy about it?” he asks with a low voice of defeat. This is unbelievable and Qhawe never saw this coming. And there is still a question that needs to be answered, “And how did my signature end up in all these invoices and receipts?” he asks as he shows them. Jimmy comes closer to look.
“Sir I have no idea, all we know is that we were going to have a new suppliers and you okayed it. We didn’t make a big deal of it as it came through HR.” Jimmy says as he looks down.
Qhawe is shocked at this, “Now a person died this morning. Has that news reached the news yet?” he asks. “No Sir, not as far as we are concerned.” A voice from a distance says. That is employee representative and media liaison Phakathi. “We have told the employees to keep this in-house for now until the management has had a meeting.” He says. The room is full of tension and everyone seems to be in panic mode.
“Thank you Phakathi.” Qhawe as he sighs and he goes over to the window and he looks and sees there are a lots of reporters outside seemingly waiting for him to give a statement.
“I don’t think you should issue a statement right now Qhawe” Jimmy says. “We need something concrete first because we don’t know what people know and what they don’t.” Qhawe moves away from the window and takes a minute, “But in the meantime, what do we tell them?” he asks. “We need to buy ourselves some time while finding out how we ended up with this new supply and how my freakin’ signature ended up there; and most of all who is this bloody Steward who called you.” he says as he raises his voice once again in annoyance.
He is interrupted by an incoming call, “Yes baby how are you?” he says with a visibly down voice. “What?" he shouts to the person on the other side of the line, “How is that on national TV already?” everyone in the room listens with interest. “Okay, okay baby, is there a way I can actually leave here without being seen?” he is saying panicky.
“Oh can’t we get Buhle, your sister to come fetch me? No one knows her here.” And the other side continues… “alright then love, please tell her to call me when she is outside. Please tell her to park on the other side of the entrance, at least there are no journalists there … “Okay baby, see you at home.” He hangs, “Demit.” He shouts.
“What happened Qhawe?” Bheki asks curiously. Qhawe goes to the TV and switches it on, “This happened.” He says as he turns on the news. The story is already on the news. It is live. Workers are striking outside. “Can this day get any worse?” he says as he sighs.
“How the hell did this happen?” Bheki asks in shock. “Oh yes how on earth did this happen? I should be asking you Bheki. You said you had this under control with the media and the workers.” Qhawe fumes. “Calm down Qhawe.” Jimmy says as he tries to calm him down. “Yes Qhawe I didn’t speak to the media. But maybe one of the employees did. That is one situation which is hard to control Qhawe you know that.” Bheki says. Qhawe can’t believe it.
On the live news people are toy-toying outside. How did things end up here? Now everyone is glued on the TV. Qhawe stands and look through the window once more. Things are bad outside. He turns and looks at Jimmy and Bheki, “I’m going to ask this just once, does any of you know anything that is going on here because I don’t.” he says with a more serious face. “No Qhawe I have no idea, man.” Jimmy says as she lays back on his sit.
“I have no clue man.” Bheki also protests. Qhawe believes them. He has worked with these gentlemen for a very long time. He trusts them. He nods in thanking them.
“Now this is out of control and it is becoming a PR nightmare. So how do we move forward? “he asks calmly as he sits down. “I say take a day or two off man, try and figure this out away from the public eye.” Jimmy says. “I agree.” Bheki interjects.
“But guys, how can I do that because this will come across as I am running away from the situation guys. Is there no other way?” Qhawe asks with a worried face. “Look man,” Jimmy says as he stands and goes to the window, “This situation is heated as it is, and your presence is not helping. It only attracts reporters, whom for now we have no answers for.” Qhawe listens as he comes back and sits down.
“Look, what’s another way of finding out about this Steward guy without being at the office? We don’t want to tip up whoever else is involved in this se up.” he says as he sighs and shrugs his shoulders; as if to say I have no idea how to deal with any of this.
“Who do you trust with your life at the office?” Bheki asks as he raises an eyebrow. Qhawe thinks for a while, “Well I can tell you for certain that, Themba, Grace and HR department I trust." he says. "I just can’t see how this happened under their watch. All of this makes no sense. Themba is head of legal. Monica is head of HR and I trust both of them.” as he stands up and walks up and down and takes a glance through the window and he realises that the protest is intensifying.
“Bheki, how are you going to handle the worker situation? I mean, the protest is not helping with the work. And soon, the Dept. of Housing will be knocking on the door. We need answers.” He says as he moves up and down the room.
“Don’t worry about the workers, man, I will deal with that. They are just being emotional because someone died. It is understandable. I just have to remind them of where we come from with them. After that I will go to the Mkhulisi family and represent the company in paying respects and maybe try and explain some details. Oh we may have to bear funeral costs as well.” Bheki says with a low voice and Qhawe nods as he says “Thanks man. Let’s hope they will listen to you.”
Jimmy nods as well, “Look just go home and lay low a little. Let Themba find out whatever he can about this mystery Steward and interview employees. Someone must have seen something somewhere. On the other hand, I will go speak to our suppliers personally and clear up the misunderstanding.” he says to which Qhawe reluctantly agrees because so far this is the only solution that makes sense.
“Guys I have to go, my wife’s sister is here, I have to sneak out of the building. My wife must be panicking.” Qhawe leaves the site office without anyone noticing.
***
He gets home and Nothemba is already waiting at home, she welcomes him with a warm hug. They talk all night about this situation. Qhawe can’t even eat but his loyal and supportive wife is there by his side. This is one time they need each other more as a family. The kids are too young to understand any of this and they have decided to leave them out of this mess.
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