THE alleged racial attack by an Afrikaans-speaking white man on a Tswinga village, resident, and the police’s allegedly lackadaisical investigation of the matter has sparked a furious response by the ANC Limpopo task team.
Eric Hlongwane, the alleged victim said the incident occurred just before Christmas, when he went to a store in Thohoyandou looking for lawn mower parts.
“As I am self employed, and was working at the time, I was wearing tattered clothes. The white man wearing the store’s uniform approached me and proceeded to verbally attack me. He even included Nelson Mandela in his racial statement,” Hlongwane claimed.
He said the man spoke Afrikaans and said: “Jy is vuil. Die tyd van julle mense is klaar en verby. Ek sal jou doodmaak. Jy is ‘n k**huis. Daardie Mandela van julle is dood en jy kan niks maak nie.”
Hlongwane said the man then grabbed him, assaulted and banged him against a wall until he collapsed.
“I sustained a head injury and I was bleeding profusely. Some of the other store officials came to me with a first aid kit and tried to stop the blood. One of them offered to take me to hospital and another official asked me if I wanted the store to discipline the attacker.
I couldn’t say anything as my attacker was still standing there and he threatened to kill me,” he said.
“He also said he would call his people to deal with me. Later I saw a group of security men coming towards me. I went to the Thohoyandou police station to open a case and the man followed me.
I don’t know why, but I saw him with the police. I’m still waiting for a response from the police because since opening the case, they have not updated me,” Hlongwane alleged.
He further said he went back to the same store some days after the incident, and the man who allegedly attacked him approached him and offered him a colddrink, but he refused.
The HR director and public relations manager of the store involved said they had communicated with the Thohoyandou police and there was no substance to the allegations made.
The store’s public relations manager said the company embraced values of equality, dignity and respect for individuals. According to her, they viewed the allegations in a serious light and also conducted an initial investigation, which revealed that no criminal case had been instituted against any of their employees.
However, Thoyandou police spokesperson, Maj Mashudu Malelo confirmed that a case of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm had been opened in this connnection. He said if Hlongwane felt the matter was not being handled correctly or that he was not being communicated with, he should lodge a formal complaint with the station commander or head of detectives.
In response to the police’s confirmation of the existence of the case, the store’s public relations manager sent out a media statement saying the company had not received any correspondence from the police or the customer involved regarding the alleged incident.
ANC Limpopo provincial task team chairperson, Falaza Mdaka, said it caused all sorts of trouble to remind people of what happened prior to 1994.
He said the alleged attacker should transform himself in order to cope with the democratic government.
“He still belongs to the past. He doesn’t belong to the democratic government. We are seriously condemning his alleged statements,” Mdaka said.
