Mayor throws book at ‘racist’ City of Johannesburg official

A video in which an official of the City of Johannesburg is overheard hurling racist epithets at a security guard at the Eldorado Park swimming pool has left mayor Herman Mashaba fuming.

He said on Tuesday he would personally escort the security guard to the police station to open a criminal case of crimen injuria against the official. The official has already been suspended‚ pending a disciplinary hearing.

“Racists must never feel that they can operate with impunity or that their behaviour is acceptable in any circles‚” said Mashaba.

In a statement‚ he said the city had received a complaint alerting it to a video taken last week‚ during which the official is overheard regretting the use of school facilities in Eldorado Park by black children.

Mashaba said he was insulted by the official’s conduct‚ both as mayor “and as a man who has weathered the storm of our racist past”.

“There must be no place for racism‚ it must be condemned and addressed decisively.”