SANEF condemns assault on journalist

The assault occurred while the journalist, Themba Makamo, was in a cafe in Second Avenue shortly before midnight on Thursday 28 February. According to people present, a burly white man who was said not to be a student accosted Makamo at his table, then followed him into the bathroom where he headbutted, kicked and punched him in the face. He turned to others in the bathroom and asked if they “hou van kaffers” (do they like kaffirs)?

According to the SANEF statement, Makamo laid a charge of assault at a nearby police station and later received stitches for a wound at a hospital. The owners of the cafe, Irna and Theunis Nortjé, have expressed their regret at the incident and have begun working with the police to try to establish the identity of the man.

Makamo, who turned 26 that day, said he and a colleague, Huisgenoot journalist Lucia Swart, had been warned about violence near the campus “but I did not expect this”.

Concludes the statement, “SANEF deplores the racial incidents that have occurred at the university and the attack on the reporter, which give credence to views that racialism is still rampant in parts of SA. SANEF calls on the police to track down the criminal and bring him to justice.”