White youths attack coloured cleaner: In the most recent racist attack to make the news (November 2014) five young white men (from East London and Knysna) left a nightclub in Cape Town and attacked another club-goer. When coloured cleaner Delia Adonis tried to call the police, they attacked her and yelled racist insults. Luckily her son arrived and saved her. Chad De Matos, 19, Aaron Mack, 20, and Mitchell Turner, 20, were charged with assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm and crimen injuria (unlawfully, intentionally and seriously impairing the dignity of another). The two other young men are still at large. The remaining three wept in court – too late for tears!

The ‘Waterkloof Four’ kill a man: This notorious attack happened in Pretoria in 2001. Four 16-year-old, rugby-playing boys from a wealthy suburb ‘borrowed’ a father’s car, went to a party then a nightclub, assaulted a man in a park, then went to another park where they kicked, stabbed and beat a homeless black man to death. They thought they had got away with their ‘fun’ but over two years later they were arrested for assault and murder. In the end they were sentenced to twelve years by Magistrate Len Kotze. They finally entered prison in 2008. Due to their youth, and good behaviour, they have served much reduced sentences.

‘Reitz four’ humiliate black workers: In another famous case beginning in 2007 four white male students at the University of the Free State found themselves in deep trouble when a ‘funny’ video they made, using female black staff of Reitz Hall, became public knowledge. They had filmed a mock initiation ceremony, in part of which the women eat food that the men had pretended to urinate on. The women had willingly taken part, not realising the implications and harm to their dignity. RC Malherbe, J Roberts, S van der Merwe and D Grobler pleaded guilty to crimen injuria in July 2010. The then new Rector of the University, Prof. Jonathan Jansen, was now trying to transform its culture of racism. At a large reconciliation ceremony the boys apologised deeply, the workers forgave them, and so did the university.

Black traffic official insults Indian mayor; businessman fans racism: In May 2013 Newcastle traffic official Zwakela Mbatha was charged with crimen injuria after he twice called an Indian customer a “Gupta” (ref. the influential Indian friends of the President) and told him to, “Go back to India, South Africa belongs to us.” His victim was award-winning Mayor and ANC member Afzul Rehman, a third generation South African. Later, Rehman accepted an apology and dropped charges. Then however, KZN businessman Phumlani Mfeka wrote an open letter to Rehman, published by City Press newspaper. Amongst other racist things he said: “Indians have never been comrades; they don’t vote for the ANC and thus have no constituency that can warrant you to be mayor in the first place … Africans in this province do not regard Indians as their brethren and thus the ticking time bomb of a deadly confrontation between the two communities is inevitable ….” Complaints were laid to the Equality Court and the SA Human Rights Commission.