KwaZulu-Natal - Newcastle mayor Afzul Rehman has laid a charge of crimen injuria against a Transport Department official after he was allegedly called “a Gupta” and told to “go back to India”.
The town’s first citizen intends approaching both the Equality Court and the SA Human Rights Commission over the incident, which he said occurred while he was renewing his driving licence last week.
News of the alleged incident quickly spread on Twitter, with social media commentators branding it an unwarranted backlash against Indians over the Gupta wedding saga.
While waiting for his application to be processed, Rehman said, he was “accosted” by an official at a vehicle testing station in Newcastle who allegedly remarked: “Hey, Gupta, what are you doing here?”
He ignored the official, who then “cracked a joke about Indians” before heading into an office, and returning and shouting the slur a second time.
Rehman said he approached the official and asked him if he knew who he was. The official allegedly replied: “Yes, I know, you are: a Gupta.”
“I responded that I take offence to his comments as I deemed it to be racist, and he said: ‘You can go back to India and take offence. Here in South Africa, this country belongs to us’,” Rehman said.
He said that he had reported the incident to the official’s superior, who later said the official wanted to apologise.
“I agreed at first, but then thought of the man in the street who will be subjected to this kind of treatment by an official in a uniform.”
Rehman wrote to KwaZulu-Natal Transport MEC Willies Mchunu, saying “Indians had played a critical role in ensuring that all people be treated equally, not based on skin colour, ethnicity or race”.
“The ANC, which both of us belong to, and you lead provincially, does not stand for this behaviour.”
Rehman, who is also considering suing the official, said that because the Gupta family had made the headlines for the wrong reasons, it had unfairly impacted upon how an entire community was viewed.
Captain Shoes Magudulela reportedly confirmed that a case of crimen injuria had been opened at the Newcastle police station and that the matter was under investigation.
Durban tycoon Vivian Reddy told The Witness it was unfortunate all Indians had been painted with the same brush as the Guptas.
A jet with 270 guests invited to the wedding of Vega Gupta and Aakash Jahajgarhia at Sun City made an unauthorised landing at Waterkloof Air Force Base, a national key point, last week, triggering widespread criticism.
Reddy, whose many business interests including ownership of the Newcastle Mall, attended the wedding.
He told The Witness: “Indians in South Africa fought side by side with black people during the liberation struggle.
“Rehman has been rated as one of the best mayors in the country. For him to be labelled a Gupta is wrong. It is mainly people who are uneducated on the facts about South Africa who would refer to him as that.”
It was “an overreaction” to have such a backlash after an isolated incident, Reddy said.
Asked by the newspaper to comment, Atul Gupta said his family was “really saddened by the racism and xenophobia driving the current debates”.
“As a family we settled in South Africa in 1993 to assist in any way we could with transforming this beautiful country.”
Gupta said he had become a South African citizen and remained “committed to helping non-racialism and empowering those who were previously disempowered both politically and economically”.
A senior police officer, three air force officers and the chief of state protocol were suspended for their alleged part in the unauthorised landing of the jet chartered by the Gupta family.
The Mercury