Samora Mangesi, an SABC television presenter, was recently attacked in Wilro Park, near the intersection of CR Swart and Ontdekkers Roads.
Mangesi posted on his Twitter account that he was with his friends when they stopped to help at an accident scene where a car had overturned. He claims he was beaten up and allegedly racially attacked by the people he was trying to help, and that they called him and his friends ‘monkeys’.
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His tweet reads as follows: “In the early hours of Saturday morning, 9 March, I was the victim of a racially motivated attack. After stopping to check on a group of young white people whose car had overturned, they called my friends and I monkeys. When we engaged them on why we were being called such, they beat me up until I was unconscious. I sustained injuries on my face, cuts inside my mouth and bruising along the left side of my body from when they kicked me on the ground after one of them had hit me on the back of the head”.
A case of assault and racism was opened at the Roodepoort Police Station, but Mangesi said he did not open the case to get revenge – he opened it because he realised this was a regular occurrence on the West Rand and the next person might not be so lucky.
On Friday night I was the victim of a racially motivated attack. After stopping to check on a group of young white people whose car had overturned, they called my friends & I Monkeys. When we engaged them on why we were being called such, they beat me up until I was unconscious. pic.twitter.com/E9DOGpPacJ
— SAMORA (@Samora_Mangesi) March 13, 2019
“Over the past couple of days I have toyed with the idea of letting it go and just continuing with my life, but apparently this is not the first time that this has happened to a black man on the West Rand, especially around Wilro Park,” he said.
The Record contacted the police for comment and Lieutenant Colonel Lungelo Dlamini, the Gauteng Police Spokesperson, confirmed that the case was being investigated. No suspects have been arrested as yet.