closeup of a young caucasian man with the palm of his hand in front of his face with text LGBTQ, for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer, written in it. Image Supplied
As the “Rainbow Nation” celebrates 30 years of democracy, racial and gender equality has been thrown back into the spotlight following an alleged homophobic and racist incident in Cape Town.
An innocent night of fun and celebrating a friend’s 21st birthday allegedly turned sour for a group of 20-year-olds at Dust and Dynamite bar in the city on Friday.
One of the group, who used the name Khanyisa Mabizela to protect her identity, told The Citizen, the problem began when they were subjected to discrimination from staff who allegedly refused to serve the black members of the group. The group consisted of “half of gay/queer” members.
Mabizela alleged one of the staff members shouted: “I am not serving any of them they need to get the f##k out”. This was followed by alleged homophobic slurs.
The Citizen reached out to the owner of the Dust and Dynamite bar, who declined to comment on the allegations.
WARNING! The video includes strong language. Viewer discretion is advised.
Mabizela told The Citizen the friends were surprised by the “completely erratic behaviour”.
“I think most of us were in shock. In 2024 you don’t expect something like this to happen. Homophobia is an issue in SA but for them to be so direct and violent was very shocking. It was also upsetting how helpless we felt,” Mabizela said.
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After allegedly chasing them out, an argument broke out between the bar owner and the patrons. The owner of the bar then allegedly pepper-sprayed the group.
WARNING! The below video includes strong language. Viewer discretion is advised.
When police arrived, the group were told to open a case but only two were reportedly allowed to give statements.
“This whole time everyone there is coherent, some of the group hadn’t even had a drink that night. We could all recall what happened coherently and concisely but it seemed like they just didn’t want to take us seriously.
“Two people got pepper sprayed directly in their eyes and they were quite hurt. These two were the ones who were allowed to make a statement with the police. The rest of us just experienced the mist in our lungs,” added Mabizela.
Mabizela said some members of the group are now looking at possibly taking legal action over the incident.
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