Johannesburg - A political analyst has laid a charge of intimidation three years after an on-air spat on a television studio, eNCA reported on Tuesday.
In April 2010 Liepollo Pheko and Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging secretary-general Andre Visagie were debating race relations in post-apartheid South Africa on the set of Africa 360.
When neither would let the other speak Visagie lost his temper, pulled off his microphone and started walking off the set. He turned back, walked towards her and said “... and you won't dare, you won't dare interrupting (sic) me...”.
Host Chris Maroleng intervened, during which he famously ordered Visagie not to “touch me on my studio”.
Visagie walked around the desk at which he and Pheko had been sitting, turned to face Pheko, and said: “I am not finished with you.”
Interviewed by eNCA on Tuesday, Pheko said she was laying the charge out of principle.
“The three years for me is almost immaterial. It's the principle.”
She was doing it for her children, she added.
“I want to be able to look them in the eye and say I can't account for him (Visagie), but I can account for what I did about it.”
She became upset when asked if she was doing it to gain publicity for her “platform” on Gauteng radio station Power FM.
“Why on earth would I use something so painful as a cheap publicity stunt?... It's got nothing to do with Power FM.” - Sapa