Kgokong Nakedi, 18, told reporters that he and a 13-year-old cousin were assaulted on Christmas Day by whites at a holiday resort they were visiting in Bloemfontein, in the Free State province. Nakedi said he started with verbal harassment when people tried to stop teens from using the pool, and then it turned into assault. Nakedi could not immediately be reached for comment early Thursday.
“They harassed us because we are black,” Nakedi told News Central TV. “They said we couldn’t swim in the pool because it’s for whites only.”
Nakedi’s father, Brian Nakedi, said the family had arrived at the resort on Saturday for their first family reunion since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. He said his son approached him from the pool around noon Sunday and asked him to speak to several white men who refused to allow the children to swim. Brian Nakedi said the men told him there had been a misunderstanding.
“We thought we had this matter resolved,” she said, but soon several men attacked the children “like prowling wild animals.”
“A fight broke out, and this other guy was grabbing Kgokong and telling him he’s going to kill him now because he won’t listen,” Brian Nakedi said. A younger white man stepped in and saved his son’s life, he added.
The incident interrupted a family vacation and brought back dark memories for Brian Nakedi. “Reliving what you have experienced before is difficult, especially if it is reminiscent of the apartheid system,” he said.
“It was a very selfish act of aggression that came from people who subscribe to racism and work against what we are trying to build in this country – non-racism and Ubuntu,” he added, referring to the South African philosophy behind the efforts of racial reconciliation. in the wake of apartheid.
The incident added fuel to a national conversation about racism persisting nearly 30 years after the end of the apartheid era in South Africa. Bloemfontein, one of the country’s three capitals, was the scene of a 1996 race riot that led the University of the Free State campus there to informally segregate its dormitories. More than a decade later, viral videos — one in 2008 showing white students forcing black workers to eat what was said to be urine-soaked food, and another in 2010 showing black students throwing water at white students — called attention to the persistent racial tensions. .
The family came to spend the day @ MASELSPOORT RESORT & CONFERENCE CENTER in the Free State. My brothers were attacked by these grown men because apparently they are not allowed in the pool as it is reserved for “white people” here.
The Oranje-Vrystraat we love ????????
Merry Christmas pic.twitter.com/ac4UPZ05ey
— TWIN FL????ME (@Tumii_Frost) December 25, 2022
A 47-year-old suspect, Kobus Johannes Classen, appeared in court on Thursday to face a charge of attempted murder. He was released on bail of 20,000 South African rand (about $1,180); His next hearing was set for January 25, according to a statement from the national prosecutor’s office.
Two other men, Johan Nel, 33, and Jan Stephanus van der Westhuizen, 47, face charges including common assault and “crime insult” (“unlawful and intentional impairment of another person’s dignity or privacy”), according to the police, and they have already appeared in court.
Police declined to confirm whether the accused men were the same ones seen in the video, noting that the court was still considering the video evidence. However, police and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa have referred to the video in public statements.
Nakedi said a relative recorded the attack and the footage was posted online.
in a In a statement on Tuesday, Ramaphosa called on the country to take a united stand against racism. “As black and white South Africans, we must be united in condemning all manifestations of racism and attempts to explain or defend such crimes,” he said. “It is deplorable that adults dealing with adolescents resort to violence with such disturbing ease.”
According to an earlier police statement, officers arrived at the Bloemfontein compound on Christmas Day shortly after 3pm to find the groups had dispersed. A man at the scene approached officers and alleged that two teenagers had been assaulted by a group of white men for their use of the pool, police said.
“Certain minorities think that they own the place and that it is their country,” Kgokong Nakedi said in the interview. “But the truth is that it is our home. Things like that are outdated.”
Brian Nakedi said both teens have been “retired” since the attack but had access to counseling and social support from the provincial government.
“Justice is ongoing,” he said. “We believe in the rule of law and have confidence in the justice system.”
