Cape Town - One of the country’s top academics, Mpumelelo Ncwadi has again become a victim of being racially profiled.
Ncwadi is not just an academic but also a farmer and is currently doing his PhD at the Nelson Institute of Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in the US.
He said he was visiting the managing director of Mido Technologies at their shared office building in Jamestown, Stellenbosch when the incident happened.
“I am a business mentor to him and after the meeting, while exiting, through the glass door I saw a beautiful picture at the other office.
“I asked the cleaning lady what they do and she told me it’s an architectural company.”
Ncwadi said he asked the lady if she could get a business card from the company as he was interested in their services.
“A white man came out and said I look undesirable and do not belong there.
“I did not quarrel, he followed me out and told me I must watch out.
“I was racially profiled,” said the disappointed scholar.
“I found out later that the person who racially profiled me is the boss of the company Nicholas Plewman of Nicholas Plewman Architects and Associates.”
He said he felt dehumanised and stripped of his dignity.
“I gave myself to this country,” he said.
“I run a small farming incubator for small farmers.
“The incident brought back sad memories.”
In 2006, Ncwadi was once arrested while jogging in Constantia.
The white person who called the police said he fitted the description of a robber that was terrorising joggers.
The father of two again was racially profiled in 2016 when he was accused of stealing at a Woolworths store after he was seen by security walking barefoot inside the store.
Woolies later admitted that they were at fault and apologised for the incident.
Plewman denied racially profiling Ncwadi.
He said one of his staff came with a complaint that there was a strange man in the tea area who she said smelt of alcohol and would not explain what he wanted.
“I went out and asked the man what we could do for him. He could not give me an explanation. I came to the conclusion that he might represent a security risk and asked him to leave. Perhaps I jumped to a conclusion too hastily, and if so, certainly I would apologise.”
He added that he has a duty of care to his staff who are all female and of diverse races, one of whom came to him because he had been frightened.
Ncwadi he does not drink alcohol and never did in his life before.
“That girl didn't complain to anyone. She was visible all the time. The man is lying through the skin of his teeth.”
The Black People’s Crisis National Committee (BPNCC) spokesperson Mbulelo Dwane said this did not come as a shock to them. BPNCC once slaughtered a sheep in Clifton following a racially motivated incident.
“We all know that when Ramaphosa took over as president, white people started showing more arrogance.
“They are more dangerous now than during apartheid.”
He said they will make time to visit the professor and plan a picket at the offices where the incident happened.
“This should make waves into the professionals and academic space.
“We have been saying that there is an attack on all black professionals in the country by the system.
“These attacks started with judge president Hlophe and we urge all black people to unite and form a wall against the anti-black system.”