South African politician Phumzile van Damme defended her decision to the punch a white man for allegedly racially harassing her.
On Tuesday, the politician was reportedly standing in line at a supermarket at the popular tourist site, V&A Waterfront, when she was met with racism. The BBC reports that a white woman and her family standing in line went on an unprompted racist rampage.
The unidentified white woman allegedly told van Damme she would push her aside. Apparently, the outraged woman was waiting outside the store for van Damme.
"Then, when I went out, she was standing there with her family in a threatening manner. And I went to her and said, 'why are you looking at me in a threatening manner?' Then, she said, 'it's because you're Black'," van Damme said in a video on Twitter.
A white man, who is reported to be connected to the white woman, intervened in the heated interaction. He came over to them and reportedly made threatening comments and threw her phone prompting van Damme to defend herself.
"The family. This lady was filming me the entire time, so I tried to take photos & that little sh*t in the black t-shirt came to my face & came within my face & [said] 'voetsek' … 'you black' & threw [my phone] on the ground. He was threatening violence so in self-defense, I punched him in the head."
I requested CCTV footage from the CEO of the V&A and he informed me it can only be made available to SAPS in terms of the law. I will be laying charges tomorrow, I unfortunately do not know the names of the racist family but I hope @SAPoliceService will be able to track them down
— Phumzile Van Damme (@zilevandamme) June 18, 2019
DA MP Phumzile van Damme punched a man during a 'race row' at the V&A Waterfront. Here is a video of her talking to the restaurant manager. CCTV footage of the incident hasn't been released yet. pic.twitter.com/oMXRDirj7v
— Pootie Tang (@Mdudemeister1) June 18, 2019
South Africa has seen increased racial violence over the past two years due to efforts to redistribute white farmland stolen from Black citizens. The latest incident is just one more incident capturing the ongoing hostility.
Van Damme was reportedly dismissed when she attempted to report the incident to security. The V&A Waterfront has since released a statement apologizing for the alleged treatment.
"We regret this incident, which we did not handle with the necessary objectivity, respect and empathy," the V&A Waterfront said on Twitter.
Supporters defended her preemptive strike on Twitter.
We will not allow racists to use this new found arrogance engineered by rightwing patliament to demonise black people. We will respond to the V&A waterfront complicity in allowing racism to flourish.
We stand with @zilevandamme!https://t.co/s21mY89HjI
— Lindsay Maasdorp (@LGMaasdorp) June 18, 2019
Phumzile Van Damme, the MOST influential black female leader in the DA, was racially discriminated in a city that's been governed by her party for the last 13 years.
Cape Town racism is so bad that it doesn't even recognize its own gatekeepers. All blacks are the same that side— Tumelo Mapaa (@DjNewSouthAfric) June 18, 2019
After demanding the tourist spot to release security footage of the incident, van Damme will file charges against the family.
