Police are investigating a case of assault after a local pastor was attacked for allegedly wearing an Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) cap, at a petrol station on Ontdekkers Road on Friday, 21 June.
In a video doing the rounds on social media, local pastor, Ron Rambebu, is seen being attacked through his car’s window while he tries to drive off.
The traumatised Rambebu said he is very shocked at what happened.
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“I went to the garage, which is not far from my house, to fill my car’s tank on Friday, 21 June, at approximately 4.30pm. I saw a white car parked opposite the tank where I was parked. After I had finished paying and was driving off, I felt punches coming through my window. At first, I thought I was being hijacked.”
He said that after he felt the punches, he stopped to try and make sense of everything that was happening.
“I tried to look around me and realised that I was being attacked. I tried to close the window but because my car has a sensor, it could not close, as the attacker kept on punching me. That is when I decided to flee because I did not want to die,” said Rambebu.
The pastor said after he drove off, he felt dizzy and felt liquid on his face. He said his eyesight became blurred, so he decided to stop on the side of the road for his safety and the safety of other motorists. “I stopped and tried to wipe up the liquid, which I realised was blood. I got out of the car and could hear my attackers speaking Afrikaans and swearing at me. There is a tyre repair business near where I had parked my car, so I went there to get a wheel spanner,” he said.
He added that as he returned, his attackers drove off. He tried to chase them but lost them in the traffic. He then went back to the garage where the attack had taken place, to ask for the CCTV footage, and asked the petrol attendants what had happened.
“The owner of the garage called me and said I should come back on Saturday, 22 June, for the footage. The owner told me that his employees said I was attacked because I was wearing an EFF cap and also said something about my car. I was also told that they called me the k-word, but I did not hear them because my mind was all over the place,” Rambebu explained.
He said that he went to the doctor and opened a case at the Roodepoort Police Station.
“We are investigating the incident, but no arrests have been made,” said police spokesperson, Kay Makhubela.
Branch chairperson for the EFF, Mike Motaung, said they strongly condemn the assault on their member.
“We believe that this was a racial attack against one of our members and we are not going to tolerate it. We are thinking that every Friday, we will go to the filling station, occupy it and make sure that when the attackers come back, they find us there. We also want to assure Rambebu that what happened to him will never happen again. We are fully behind him,” said Motaung.
