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Tourism Minister Lindiwe Sisulu has met and apologised to the family that was physically attacked, allegedly by white men, at the Maselspoort Resort in Oranje, Free State, on Christmas Day.
Sisulu said the incident was an embarrassment to the government and tourism in the country.
NOW READ: WATCH: Family’s Christmas marred by alleged racist attack in Free State resort
She said in a statement that she had met Brian Nakedi, his wife and son, to apologise on behalf of the South African government for the incident and also offered psychological help to the family.
“I am sorry that during our leadership your family experienced such discrimination. We apologise that we as government couldn’t protect you from such people,” she said.
“No racial group should take advantage of the industry to discriminate and act violently against any other racial group in indulging in any niceties presented by this industry,” said Sisulu.
Nakedi thanked government for its assistance and revealed that it was the second time that his family experienced racism at the resort.
“In 2017 we experienced similar incident, but my children were too young to fight back then. We kept it to ourselves. When it happened again, my sons were much older and stood up for themselves,” he said.
A video clip shared on social media captured part of the incident at the resort, where two boys were assaulted.
It showed white men allegedly ordering a black teenager out of the water, then hitting or shoving him back in, grabbing a child by the throat and pulling his hair.
One man was also seen allegedly holding a youngster under water.
Three suspects were subsequently arrested and are all out on bail.
READ MORE: Third Maselspoort racism suspect Kobus Klaassen released on R20K bail
The trio were initially facing assault charges, but according to police spokesperson in the Free State Brigadier Motantsi Makhele, the charges were upgraded to attempted murder after investigations determined the seriousness of the assault.
“Given this first information of crime which was received by the police at that time, the only charges which could be registered were assault common and crimen Injuria.
“We want to put it on record that the police never downgraded any crime but worked and were informed by the first statement as obtained from the complainant,” said Makhele
ALSO READ: ‘We don’t want racists in SA’: Ramaphosa tells Maselspoort victims not to be afraid of white people
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