Nurse who used K-word banned from working at Life Healthcare hospitals

Johannesburg - A nurse who used the K-word to refer to black people has been banned from working for the Life Healthcare Group.

In a private message on Facebook, nurse Elaine Jacobs shamed Larochelle Smit, 28, for dating black men and said she was trying to "look like a Kardashian".

Speaking to The Star, Smit said she dated Jacobs' son nine years ago. Then in September this year, Jacobs contacted her on Facebook.

"I think she feels angry seeing me in relationships with some black men. She felt some kind of need to reach out to me and that is when she made the racial comment. She then foolishly claimed that her account was hacked.

Smit said in the first message to her, Jacobs had asked her who she was trying to be.

"So I responded, ‘what do you mean by this?’ 

"Then almost a month later she replied saying 'I mean‚ you’re a South African Boere girl‚ but you want to look like a Kardashian??? And date k***rs??'.

Smit said she was shocked by Jacobs’ messages. She said when she first met her nine years ago at her North West home, there was no indication that she harboured such racist attitudes.

Larochelle Smit. Picture: Facebook

“I met this woman nine years ago. I even stayed at her house for a weekend with my then-boyfriend. She seemed like a nice person. There were no indications that she is a racist woman. She seemed like a decent person,” she said.

Smit said when she confronted Jacobs, she claimed that her account had been hacked.

“How can your account be hacked when you reply after a month? It is very unlikely that a hacker can hack into your account in September then again in October." 

"She is also known for sharing posts that have the old Apartheid flag, so I am not surprised,” Smit said.

The Star tried to reach out to Jacobs over social media but was unsuccessful.

Jacobs' Facebook profile states that she works for Life Anncron Hospital in Klerksdorp, but the hospital said that was not true.

They confirmed that Jacobs used to work for them but resigned in 2012 to join an agency that placed her at the hospital.

"Thereafter, she worked for a nursing employment agency and her last shift at the hospital as an agency nurse was in October 2017."

“Life Healthcare takes racial hate speech as a very serious matter and this type of behaviour contravenes our values as well as our policies. 

"Despite the fact that Ms Jacobs was not in our employ at the time of her post, we have reached out to the nursing agency and informed them that Ms Jacobs’s services are not to be utilised at any Life Healthcare hospital,” said Life Healthcare Human Resources Executive, Chris Gouws.

Smit said that although she has been getting backlash on social media, she is not afraid.

The Star