As the hunt intensifies for the man seen shouting at, and threatening to assault, a woman at a Spur in Johannesburg's The Glen shopping centre, his home town of Rustenburg, in North West, has closed ranks.
For two days residents of the town responded with closed doors and suspicion to efforts to track down the man in the video, who has been identified as Nico Viljoen.
They remained that way despite assurances that his whereabouts would not be divulged because of threats on social media.
- Twitter 'outing' dummies on wrong side of the lawSocial media users like those who wrongly identified the "Spur bully" and disclosed that person's personal information could be liable for criminal prosecution.
The only details unearthed were where his girlfriend works and that he was a car salesman at a dealership in early 2015 in Rustenburg. Other than that, no one was going to tell anyone anything.
There was a "no comment" from a receptionist at the medical practice where Viljoen's girlfriend is believed to work. His cellphone number did come to light eventually but that was a non-starter because it remained unanswered.
- 'Spur bully' is not indicative of who we are as a nationThe tragedies of South Africa are writ large and small, with the latest being that of the racist bully at a Spur restaurant.
"We don't know where he is" and "I haven't seen him" were stock answers - even from those said to know him personally. Inquiries at any number of restaurants, car dealerships, gyms and even his last known address - where neighbours had not seen him for "a while" - proved fruitless.
Last week Spur released CCTV footage of him grabbing Lebohang Mabuya's seven-year-old boy aggressively. A friend said last Wednesday that a lawyer would be issuing a statement. That has not happened.
As for the man himself ? Well, he seems to have disappeared into thin air.