Cape Town - The ANC in the Cape Winelands District Municipality is investigating an alleged racial attack at a local fast food drive-through in Worcester.
ANC district municipality’s chief whip Hector Yabo said he was approached by one of the victims of the incident days after the alleged attack because the police could not state whether there had been any arrests in the case.
Yabo said that on July 4, four white men allegedly physically assaulted 40-year-old Xola Letaba, his female friend and several other customers as they were queueing to purchase food at the fast-food franchise.
He said: “As the ANC we think it’s disturbing that people of colour are still experiencing such incidents in a democratic country. Racism should be dealt with harshly whenever it rears its ugly head. We condemn such racist behaviour.
Letaba said: “What started as a brief food stop became a traumatising experience. We were called racial slurs and physically assaulted. I was stabbed and bleeding profusely – all because someone felt entitled to treat us as less than.
“We were chased around with an axe, women too, and it unsettles me to think that these men are still to be held accountable.
“Since the incident, people have come up to me saying how these types of incidents occur quite frequently in the area, but the perpetrators are never apprehended. That’s why I reached out to the ANC, to get the incident out there and the police working to arrest the men involved,” Letaba said.
Yabo also lashed out at the fast food franchise management where the incident reportedly took place, saying he was disappointed that the franchise’s cameras were not working during the weekend of the incident when police went by to collect evidence.
“We are also not happy with the SAPS. How is it, that days after the incident the detective cannot update us? This was a public, racist attack, and the public deserves to know that the perpetrators will be held accountable. SAPS should not forget that there was a GBV component to this incident. Some women were allegedly chased by these men with an axe,” Yabo said.
Police spokesperson FC van Wyk said the investigation was still ongoing, with no arrests as yet.