3 arrested for ‘white immigrant’ comments, resisting arrest and vandalism
Following an altercation in a Port Elizabeth petrol station where three men were caught on video callling a customer a "white immigrant," they appeared in court on various charges, including assault, resisting arrest and crimen injuria.
The suspects – Sinethemba Plaatjies, 33, Sibusiso Sigaca, 24, and Siyabulela Xesibe, 30 – appeared in the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court on December 30 and were each released on R300 bail.
While it is unclear what led to the altercation, a video shows two men making the remarks to a man in the queue at a Caltex store near Hobie Beach.
In the video, one of the men says: “We’re going to bring the whole township that your ancestors subjected us to.”
He also says the other person in the altercation, who does not appear in the video, is a “white immigrant” and a “child of Jan van Riebeeck”, who doesn’t “belong in this country”.
The man then appears to throw an object towards the person holding the camera. Following this, the staff at the petrol station speak out against his behaviour.
Shortly after the incident, Eastern Cape police arrested three men, police spokesperson Colonel Priscilla Naidu said.
“On Sunday December 29, Port Elizabeth K9 members responded to a complaint at a garage near Hobie Beach in Summerstrand. It was alleged that three males were harassing the customers inside the shop and damaging items from shelves,” she said.
According to News24 it is also alleged that the suspects continued to harass and swear at people at the beach, following the incident at the petrol station. They then swore at police officers and attempted to resist arrest, Naidu said.
“The three suspects… were apprehended and detained on charges of assault [on police], resisting arrest, crimen injuria, drunk and disorderly [conduct], public indecency and malicious damage to property,” she said.
In a statement to Netwerk24, acting head of marketing for Caltex Eastern Cape Pat Kelly says they are aware of the incident. He added that Caltex condemns any form of racism or violent behaviour.
