By Kathu Mamaila
A senior Democratic Alliance leader in the far north and former MP, George Ramaremisa, was reminded this week that his black skin is all he needs to attract harassment from white men.
Ramaremisa's troubles started in Levubu at about 7pm on Thursday when his car had a puncture while he was returning from being inaugurated as a councillor in Louis Trichardt. He was unable to remove the damaged tyre, so he decided to walk to Andries Joubert's farm store, where he had bought the tyre some time back.
On arriving at the farm, he saw a group of people sitting around a fire. He introduced himself and then asked one of them to call Joubert. However, Joubert and another man came out, armed with guns.
"He (Joubert) knows me and called me by name. He was very aggressive. Joubert said 'we don't want to see blacks after dark'. When I tried to explain myself, he shouted 'kak'. He told me that his wife and children were very shocked to have seen a black man here at night.
"I am very disappointed. I thought whites were prepared to live with us. Clearly some whites have declared war on blacks. Otherwise, how does one explain the ill treatment that was meted out to me by Joubert and the other man?
"They insulted me and pointed guns at me, saying they did not want to see a black person after dark. The fact that they knew me did not help matters either," said an angry Ramaremisa, who is a member of the Louis Trichardt district council.
However, Joubert on Friday denied insulting or intimidating Ramaremisa. "It was 8pm, and he came in a foreign car. Yes, I was armed but you will appreciate the dangers of farm attacks.
"Ramaremisa is my friend. I did not insult him. All I said to him was that 'you know the kak that we've got on the farms'. I don't want people on my farm after dark because of the attacks."
Levubu is a conservative farming area which made international headlines in 1988 when a farmer killed a labourer, Eric Sambo, for accidentally running over two puppies with a tractor. About two years ago, a labourer there was severely beaten after allegedly being caught eating a banana while at work.