Publications
Partners
An official from the City of Johannesburg has been suspended over racist remarks made to an insourced security guard.
This follows an incident last week at the Eldorado Swimming Pool in which the official was filmed verbally assaulting the guard. He can be heard saying that he regretted the use of school facilities by black children. He also referred in an insulting manner to a so-called "black mentality".
"As the Executive Mayor of the City of Johannesburg and as a man who has weathered the storm of our racist past, I am insulted by what has transpired," Mayor Herman Mashaba said in a statement on Tuesday.
He added that the City was in possession of the video and that a disciplinary inquiry was underway.
"I will be taking the security guards who endured this treatment to lay a criminal case of crimen injuria at a police station today," Mashaba said.
Mashaba said that the City had worked hard to restore the "dignity of security guards through insourcing efforts and they now enjoy decent wages and benefits".
"Such deplorable conduct is intolerable by all standards. There must be no place for racism, it must be condemned and addressed decisively. Racists must never feel that they can operate with impunity or that their behaviour is acceptable in any circles," he said.
Mashaba added that he had also asked Community Development MMC Nonhlanhla Sifumba to follow the disciplinary case in order to ensure that justice was served.
"I call upon the residents of the City to condemn racism, ensure that our collective voice is one that unites our country, overcomes the pain of our past and builds a prosperous and more equitable future for all," he said.
