Outrage in South Africa at alleged ‘racial’ attack on TV presenter

An alleged racially-motivated attack by a group of white people who beat up a black South African TV presenter trying to help them after a road accident has sparked outrage on social media.

The incident occurred last week when Samora Mangesi, who presents a lifestyle show for the South African Broadcasting Corporation, said he and some friends pulled over to help after a car overturned on a road in west Johannesburg.

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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

The tweet sparked fury among his followers, who shared the post more than 3,700 times.

“They kicked me on the ground after one of them had hit me on the back of the head,” wrote Mangesi who sustained cuts, bruises and grazes on his face and body. 

Race relations remain tense in South Africa 25 years after the end of white-minority apartheid rule.

News of the alleged racial attack has sparked anger on local social media among South Africans.

“Rainbow nation is a myth,” tweeted one user called @IamTrevorWest, while another, @PMG_Financial, tweeted his outrage at being “bullied in our own country”. 

Mangesi said he had filed a complaint with the police.