unacceptable conduct

Avalon Group which owns and runs the Cine Centre cinemas in the country has a rule which is not only discriminatory but also ********.

The full ticket price is currently R99 and they provide a discount off this price to pensioners. That is a good gesture that pensioners pay R70. However, the condition is that the senior citizen must have a Smart ID. That is to say that they DO NOT recognize the 13 digit bar coded ID that has been issued by Home Affairs. The lame excuse is that the machine does not recognize the old IDs.

Is this conduct not arrogance and discriminatory? is it not a wilful disregard of the laws of the land?

A call to the HO at 031 368 2007 last Thursday (31 July 2025) was attended to by a Ms Pearl who immediately herself labelled the practice "unacceptable". However, she could not pass on the phone to any senior person because the only senior person, a Mr Logan who is Senior Manager works only till 14:00hrs. He leaves his work phone behind and does not answer emails. He also does not have a set start time so the request to ask him to call me back on Friday did not happen. Ms Pearl was again requested that he phone me on Saturday (he does work Saturdays!!) but till the time of writing this review there has been no attempt to call me. She did say however, that she did check and the rule in place is indeed that only Smart ID cards qualify.

When prompted that I would like to speak to someone higher than Mr Logan, it was said that Mr AB Musa the Managing Director, who is currently not in Durban is the only one.

Ms Pearl knows my number and can easily arrange that Mr Logan or Mr Musa return the courtesy and explain why this rule?

They also have another inexplicable rule - one can only use their Gift Card to buy the cinema ticket. But if you want a soda and popcorn, you must pay cash or card!! any guesses why?? BECAUSE the machine does not recognize the Gift card or to say that payment via Gift Card is not an option for buying refreshments.

THEY REALLY HAVE OUT OF THE WORLD RULES!!

While this second rule is an unnecessary inconvenience and frankly counter intuitive, it is the first matter that seriously needs to be investigated by the relevant authorities and any regulator and even by Home Affairs. After all, the possession of a Smart Card ID is not in the hands of citizens. It is issued by the Government and not every citizen has yet been issued with a Smart Card ID.

To therefore disregard an existing Govt. issued document, that is otherwise, acceptable everywhere in the country (and in some cases even outside the country) only shows the respect and regard that Avalon Group has for the senior citizens of this country.

This arrogance goes up several notches when there is no attempt to call back and provide remedial action.