Outside the Bloemfontein magistrate’s court on Thursday, professor Brian Nakedi was still unable to understand what motivated Kobus Klaassen to allegedly hold his son’s head underwater in a racially motivated attack.
The incident, which has caused outrage, happened at a swimming pool at a Free State resort.
“It is a pity we have fellow South Africans who deliberately fail to recognise our country’s decades-long move towards a nonracial society powered by the spirit of ubuntu,” the academic and business owner said after Klaassen, 48, was granted R20,000 bail.
Klaassen’s co-accused, Johan Nel of Brandfort and Johannes Stephanus van der Westhuizen of Bothaville, both small Free State towns, first appeared in court on Wednesday charged with assault and crimen injuria. They were released on warning.
The three are accused of assaulting Nakedi’s 18-year-old son Kgokong and Kgokong’s 13-year-old cousin.
Klaassen faces an additional charge of attempted murder for allegedly throttling Kgokong and shoving his head underwater.
They were among a group of white men who apparently denied the boys entry to a pool at Maselspoort resort outside Bloemfontein, saying it was for whites only.
Video footage of the assault went viral this week, with CCTV footage of the pool area that emerged on Thursday appearing to show several white people leaving the pool when one of the boys got in.
Nakedi and his wife, Boipelo, said they were angry and sad. Boipelo said she was also disappointed and unable to “understand what is going on in the minds of these people”.
“I am more worried about the after-effects than the incident itself. I have to now help fix this. We have an 18-year-old son and his 13-year-old cousin who are severely traumatised by what they experienced on Christmas Day. They are receiving therapy, but as a mother I have to take charge of their wellbeing,” she said.
In an interview with News24 this week, Kgokong said that when one of the men threw him into the swimming pool, his only thought was to protect his cousin.
He said that as he was being choked, his attacker said to him in Afrikaans: “You want water? Now I will put you in the water.”
“I didn’t think they would be arrogant enough to do anything physical. I told them: ‘If you do touch me, I’ll call the police.’ I let them know that I do deserve to be there, our parents worked hard. I just wanted to swim with my cousins,” he said.
Outside court on Thursday, his father said incidents such as these “damage the minds of our future leaders, white and black”.
“That will lead to an even more polarised society than we have. What we don’t want is young leaders, now only children, to be influenced by these incidents and then 15 years from now, when it is their turn to lead, they are still caught up in the division of race.”
Nakedi said he understood the pain of racists, who “act … from a place of low self-esteem, low confidence and an inferiority complex”.
“We are talking about people who feel a deep sense of unfairness — real or imagined — who then direct their anger towards what should be their future, a new and inclusive South Africa for all of us.
Racists act … from a place of low self-esteem, low confidence and an inferiority complex
— Professor Brian Nakedi
“The offenders don’t know what they cost our country in terms of the economy and tourism with this bigoted, backward behaviour.
“We have fellow citizens who are destroying their children’s futures by teaching them hate. These men are destroying their children’s futures.”
Klaassen, who has four children, cut a lonely figure in the dock, with no family members in court to support him.
He operates a vehicle workshop in Bloemfontein, where his wife also works, and the shopfront was defaced this week with slogans such as “no place for racists” spray-painted on its doors.
EFF and Azapo members packed the court, murmuring in agreement every time the magistrate said Klaassen could not be released on bail if his life was threatened.
Two Afrikaans men who witnessed the assault and spoke to the Sunday Times on condition of anonymity denied accusations of racism.
One said one of the boys called him a racist when he asked if he was a day visitor or resident because the pool was for residents only.
“The boy left the pool and shouted that he was going to fetch his father,” he said.
The other man said Nakedi then arrived, they spoke and, thinking the matter had been resolved, returned to their Christmas lunch.
“While we were eating we heard all hell breaking loose at the pool. We called the Maselspoort management office to inform them of the problem,” he said.
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