WATCH: ‘Fight over funeral tent’ escalates to white men beating black neighbour with chains, bat

A debate about the dangers of “culture clash” erupted this week on social media after a video showing neighbours fighting over a funeral tent went viral. The video has been trending for about a week and was shot late last year in Pretoria.

In black culture, in the event of a death or any major family event, families often erect tents just outside their gate, blocking traffic on either side.

While this is common and accepted in many “black communities” across the country, one family clearly met with difficulties after their neighbours appeared not to appreciate a tent being erected on the street outside their house . Insults and alleged physical assault then ensued between the two families, prompting the police to get involved.

The incident occurred in December.

In the video, which has been circulating on social media, the families can be seen fighting, with one man threatening to hit his neighbours with a chain. He can be seen dragging it along the street and also inside his neighbour’s yard.

According to Queen Maluleka, who spoke to the Daily Sun, the family made a courtesy call to their neighbours to inform them they would be erecting a tent following the death of a family member. While other neighbours did not seem to have a problem, it was the family opposite their home who told them they could only erect the tent for 10 hours.

But while they were busy erecting the tent, two bakkies with white men arrived and the men allegedly started assaulting their neighbour with a baseball bat, long chains and pepper spray.

Pretoria West police spokesperson Constable Sibongile Vuwa told the paper a case of common assault had been opened and police arrested and released four neighbouring family members.

Watch the video below:

https://twitter.com/stolencarRSA/status/1217346626869760000

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