WATCH | Mzansi rages about mugging - and motorists who ignored victim

Social media erupted in anger and despair on Thursday over a video showing a mugging in Cape Town.

But it wasn't only the crime that upset people - it was the fact that no one stopped to help the young woman left sobbing at the side of the road.

The incident, recorded by a security camera, is said to have taken place in Muizenberg. Those who posted the video said the mugging happened on Saturday 16 February, but police later said it took place on the previous Saturday February 9.

The video shows a woman walking on the pavement next to a busy road, carrying a shopping bag in her left hand and her phone in her right.

A silver Mercedes-Benz A-Class pulls up alongside her and two men emerge, one from the front passenger seat and the other from the back seat.

As the woman realises she is being mugged and begins to run away, one of the men grabs her bag while the other, dressed in a blue hoodie and shorts, targets her phone.

The man grabs the woman from behind and she puts up a fight, clearly determined to hang on to her phone. The scuffle send the mugger and his victim into the road. He frees himself from the woman's grip, picks up her phone and gets back into the car.

The woman gives chase as the car drives off with both doors on its left-hand side open.  She then turns and holds her head in her hands, before bending over with her hands on her knees, sitting on the pavement and bursting into tears.

It's what happened next that has upset many of the people who commented about the video on Facebook and Twitter. A Ford Fiesta and a Toyota Corolla, plus at least one car going in the opposite direction, pass the distressed young woman without stopping to help her.

James Mandevere said on Twitter: "Why two cars passed by without even talking to her after such a horrible incident? Where is our humanity?"

And @thatodikwidi4 commented: "Not even a single motorist stopped to help the poor lady."

Western Cape police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Andrè Traut said a case of robbery was reported at Muizenberg police station on Tuesday.

"The incident allegedly occurred on 9 February at approximately 7.40am," he said.

"Detective Constable Felicia Johnson has been appointed as the investigating officer. Anybody with any information regarding the incident is asked to contact her on 021-787-9000."