'My pants cost R2,000 & my shirt cost R1,800': Bonginkosi Khanyile explains why he can't be linked to looting

“My pants cost R2,000 and I'm wearing a shirt that cost R1,800. I don’t steal fridges.”

So says former Fees Must Fall activist Bonginkosi Khanyile, who is confident of beating charges against him of instigating violence during the July 2021 riots.

Khanyile appeared at the Durban magistrate’s court on Monday where he pleaded not guilty to a charge of incitement to commit public violence and contravention of the Disaster Management Act relating to the looting and violence that took place in KwaZulu-Natal.

He was arrested in August 2021 and released on R5,000 bail in September. 

Speaking outside court before his latest appearance, Khanyile told media he cannot be linked to the looting because he is not poor and can afford to buy things. 

He said the charges were a waste of his time.

“I’m wearing pants that cost R2,000. Do I look like someone who enters malls and steals fridges? 

“My pants cost R2,000 and I’m wearing a shirt that cost R1,800. I would never steal fridges. They are playing with me here. Khanyile has his own things, I don’t steal fridges,” Khanyile said in isiZulu.

Khanyile denied being an instigator of the unrest, saying anyone who believes there were people urging others to loot was “peddling a lie”.

He did not believe his sentiments had contributed to the looting and questioned how sentiments he once shared years ago had been “resurrected” during the unrest.

“The character of looters is not on Twitter. Facebook and Twitter people are middle-class people. Looting was on the ground. When people looted in Umlazi it was not because people said so.

“You look at the magistrate. He is even angry. You look at the prosecutor, he is even angry on the face. What kind of [a] trial is that?”

The case was postponed to August 19.

Social media users weighed in on Khanyile's statement.

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