Johannesburg - A road rage incident in Mpumalanga between a group of bikers and two motorists has left a police officer and two others injured.
The incident, which saw a Volkswagen Golf 7, a police vehicle and a Renault Kwid damaged, took place on the Machadodorp N4 on Saturday.
A video of the incident has been making the rounds on social media, where two bikers can be seen beating up a man on his knees.
Other bikers can also be seen in the vicinity; one of them proceeds to attack the Renault Kwid motorist, Vusi Nkosi, who is filming the incident.
Nkosi stated that he was driving past when he noticed a group of bikers beating up a person.
“I was surprised to see so many bikers. I slowed down my car and started taking the video but they came to threaten me and started damaging my car.”
Bruce Ngobeni, owner of the Volkswagen vehicle, said the bikers rode past him at such a high speed that he lost control of the car.
“One of them scratched my car as he drove past. Thereafter, I stopped the car to see what was happening, and that’s when they started attacking me. It was a horrific moment.”
Ngobeni said his brother who was driving with him was also beaten. “We managed to get inside the car and drove off but they chased us in a bakkie this time around. They tried to knock me off the road.”
According to Ngobeni, things got out of hand when he arrived at Belfast police station where the group of bikers injured a police officer and fled the scene.
“The bakkie they were driving in was driving at a high speed and they knocked down a police officer.”
Nkosi’s posts on social media have since caused a stir, with some family members of the bikers calling him to retract them.
A Facebook message from Zeldene Harris read: “Good day sir the video you posted with all the racist comments lead me to know that you are not aware that the Golf drove a biker off the road that was almost fatal. So please don’t make this a racist thing.”
One of the bikers is reportedly an employee at Barloworld Equipment. However, the company was quick to distance itself from the incident.
On Sunday, the company cleared the air in a tweet: “Barloworld Equipment does not condone violence of any sort. A formal investigation is under way as we hold all our stakeholders, including our service providers, against the highest ethical standards.”
Police spokesperson Brigadier Leonard Hlathi indicated that arrests were imminent and that videos circulated on social media had come in handy in their investigations.
“The video does show the faces of some of the suspects and there is also a vehicle registration number that has been captured,” he said.
The Star