“I Am Coming”: Pretoria Gent Shows Restaurant Employees Doing Garden Work and Confronts Manager

• A workers' rights advocate shared a video confronting a manager at a fast food chain after seeing employees on the side of the road
• The gentleman argued that the workers' contracts don't include odd duties and that forcing them to do this work is exploitative
• Mzansi praised the man for standing up for the employees, with the video getting over 130,000 reactions
• Briefly News reached out to the restaurant and the workers' rights advocate for comment, but did not receive a response at the time of publication

A Pretoria man has sparked major debate after confronting a restaurant manager for making employees do garden work outside the building. He posted the video on 20 January 2026 on his TikTok page @lebusa.mamaregane showing restaurant employees cleaning weeds, cutting grass and maintaining plants on the side of the road.

In the clip, he stops his vehicle and asks the workers why they aren't inside the building and why they're doing gardening work. At first, they all look at him, quite surprised, before answering. He then asks where the owner or employer is, and one of the workers says he's inside the building.

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The gentleman tells them he'll be back and the scene then switches to show the man confronting the manager outside on the pavement where the workers were cleaning. He informs the manager that he has no right to treat the employees like this, especially since this isn't supposed to be under their work descriptions. They're supposed to be working inside the restaurant, handling the till or food, not outside doing garden work.

The manager argues back, stating that the gentleman doesn't have any right to stop them from doing what he tells them to do. Eventually, the gentleman tells the workers to put down all of their gardening tools and to stop working in the garden and takes the garden tools and throws them onto the road.

He argues that the workers aren't supposed to be doing this kind of work because their contracts are for different job descriptions. If a person is employed as a chef, he should be working as a chef and not as a gardener.

In the caption, the workers' rights advocate wrote that workers at the fast food chain are being forced to perform garden work and other unrelated duties when the outlet isn't busy. He said this practice is a direct violation of their employment contracts. He called on the restaurant's management to immediately cease these unlawful practices, respect workers' contracts and restore dignity in the workplace.

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Briefly News reached out to the restaurant for comment, but did not receive a response at the time of publication.

Watch the TikTok clip below:

Mzansi praises gent for standing up

Social media users praised TikTok user @lebusa.mamaregane's actions, stating:

@sisZandi maSibiya 🇿🇦 🇲🇿 wrote:

"Africa is proud of you, my brother. God bless you😭😭😭"

@FatsoMabs said:

"Malume, we love you for standing up for others, so viva Malume viva!"

@mmaetshoobrrama74 shared:

"Teachers are sweeping classes 😢 😭"

@TUMELO added:

"The manager is wrong."

@Nomahlubi ka Mp stated:

"This is exploitation at its WORST😳"

@ntsakieycee asked:

"Is this Menlo Park?"

@SifisoM wrote:

"He is 100% correct, because after that contamination, they'll go make food for customers, how is that hygienic?"

Other exploitation stories in SA

• Briefly News reported that an American woman and her family were allegedly scammed out of $300,000 by her Danish husband.
• A local influencer was approached by two car guards outside a Gqeberha mall, seeking help to expose their employer who forces them to pay up to R150 daily.
• A young woman shared her experience with a man claiming to be from African Casting, after another lady accused the agency of exploitation.

Source: Briefly News