A Ghanaian woman in New Zealand has told Pulse Ghana a text message she mistakenly sent caused her immediate dismissal, and left her no option but to sleep under a tree.
A Ghanaian woman in New Zealand told Pulse Ghana she was had to sleep under a tree after she was fired from working for the South African High Commissioner's home because of a text message she accidentally sent.
Patience Komla, from Ghana, was sacked by the South African high commissioner in New Zealand.
In a written statement to Pulse.com.gh Patience Komla said she had been working as a maid for the past 15 years for South African embassies around the world. She had been working for the South African Embassy in New Zealand since 2014, in the home of the South African High Commissioner to New Zealand, Zodwa Lallie.
On March 3 she sent a message to her sister in Ghana but mistakenly sent it to the attaché in the Embassy office in Wellington.
The message relayed a conversation she overheard between Lallie, and another employee.
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Lallie found out about the message, and confronted Komla over it, telling her she wanted her out of her house immediately, booked her a hotel room, gave her $50 (NZ), and had a driver take her away.
Komla told Pulse.com.gh she was told to leave the house where she was working, and to go to the embassy office the following day.
“They told me to leave and to leave the country immediately. I was upset and panicking, I left the room, leaving my hand bag behind. I was almost broke and unable to afford a hotel, let alone an air ticket. Extremely upset I returned for my bag and left. They had sent an embassy van to remove all my belongings from the house and took them to the friend's property in Wellington.”
She took a bus north to stay with a friend, however, “he was away for the night and because of [the] guard dog I had to sleep under a tree. He found me in the early morning on Saturday."
Pulse Ghana is awaiting comment from the South African High Commissioner in New Zealand.
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Brenda von Appen, a secretary for the commission told New Zealand news site stuff.co.nz Komla's actions were regarded as a serious infringement."Trust and the maintenance of confidentiality lie at the heart of the domestic worker and employer relationship, especially when living under the same roof,” she said."Patience Komla's services have been terminated for reasons she has been made aware of."
Komla’s contract states she must not "discuss or communicate any information about your employment, your employer or events which come to you [sic] attention through your employment at the official residence".
A breach of that clause entitles the employer to terminate the contract with 24 hours notice, stuff.co.nz reported.
Komla's work visa had been cancelled.
An employment lawyer in New Zealand told the news site a worker in Komla's position was entitled to take a case against the commission under New Zealand employment law, however the commission might be entitled to claim "sovereign immunity" from New Zealand law.
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But it was more likely New Zealand employment law would cover the issue, he said.
