Johannesburg – Spur Steak Ranches on Tuesday banned a white male customer from all its chain restaurants after he was involved in an altercation with a black female patron at one of its restaurants in Johannesburg.
The heated exchange, in front of small children, which included profanities happened at Texamo Spur at The Glen Shopping Mall, south of Johannesburg, on Sunday. The incident was captured on video and has since gone viral on social media.
In a statement on Tuesday, Spur said it was “very disappointed” that children were exposed to “this type of behaviour” and assured the public and its customers that it would not be taking the incident lightly.
“The man in the video is not welcome at any Spur restaurant nationally. We do not condone any forms of violence against women or children, irrespective of the circumstances,” Spur said.
The female patron, who is a nurse employed by the City of Johannesburg, posted a video of the altercation on Facebook. She said she was disappointed with how the restaurant staff and management handled the incident.
Warning: video contains profane language
She was having a meal with her family and several kids at the restaurant when the incident occurred. They had been celebrating the birthday for one of the children.
In the video a man is seen approaching the woman’s table and can be heard hurling insults. He accused her child of hitting his daughter. She stands up and takes the man and a verbal exchange ensued.
The male threatens to “klap (smack)” her if she did not discipline her child. He appears to be restrained by his partner. They seem to be leaving, when suddenly the man turns back and grabs and lifts the table causing plates to fall to the ground.
Other patrons eventually stepped in and calmed him down until he left.
“And this was suppose to be a birthday lunch for a three-year-old … and this is what transpired at The Glen Spur … Disappointed with the spur staff and manager,” posted the woman.
Spur said it had investigated the incident after being alerted to the video.
“Upon viewing the video content that’s been circulated on social media we are shocked at the adults for behaving in the manner they did, especially with so many children around. As a family restaurant, Spur does not condone this type of behaviour,” Spur said.
“We have investigated the incident with Texamo Spur staff and management, who expressed that they did in fact try to intervene, but were pushed away numerous times by the angry male customer. As soon as the incident escalated, Texamo Spur staff notified The Glen Shopping Mall security.”
The video of the incident has caused an outpouring of anger on Twitter and Facebook with people wanting Spur to name and shame the offending male.
Don't get me wrong what that guy was doing Ko spur was down right ugly, but woman abuse is not a race thing it's an ugly man thing.
— goatee gawd (@maindawg88) March 21, 2017
Clearly there's no safe space for black women in South Africa. The violence in the Spur video is quite alarming
— Soul City Institute (@SoulCity_SA) March 21, 2017
This is not about race or anything as a man YOU DO NOT THREATEN TO BEAT A WOMAN you don't have to be white or black to know that. #Spur
— Tumisang. (@Tumi_Mere) March 21, 2017
Im disgusted at what I just witnessed, how many mothers and kids is this man going to harass everytime his child fights with other kids Spur
— millicent (@MillicentMilliz) March 21, 2017
I am still waiting for twitter detectives to give us that Spur guys details.fb, twitter handle anything to get to ask him questions.
— Simps (@simps3099) March 21, 2017