The two White South African landowners captured in a video forcing a Black man in to a wooden coffin have been arrested and are set to appear in court Wednesday, according to the BBC.
The two appeared in a 20-second-long video last month, forcing a seemingly frightened Black man, who has been identified as Victor Rethabile Mlotshwa, inside a coffin and threatening to put a snake inside and set it on fire.
The disturbing video went viral on social media, causing widespread outrage not just in South Africa but around the world, with many people calling for the arrest of the two culprits.
The duo is now expected to appear in the Middleburg Magistrate Court in South Africa to answer to charges of kidnapping and assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
Black Oppression & Humiliation
Although it is still not clear what led the two suspected landowners to allegedly assault Mlotshwa, many South Africans have condemned the act, describing it as Black oppression.
South Africa’s opposition party Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), for example, castigated the two culprits for what it said was racial discrimination.
“This humiliation can be based on nothing else but his Blackness, which means it is in actual fact a humiliation of Black people as a whole,” EFF said.
The eNCA reported that the disturbing incident happened at JM De Beer Boerdery next to Komati Power Station, which is near to Middelburg in Mpumalanga, South Africa.
There is still no information about the whereabouts or the fate of the victim.
Post-Apartheid Racism
More than two decades since the end of Apartheid in South Africa and racism is still very much alive in the country, with numerous cases of racial discrimination being reported every day.
Currently, there is an ongoing court case involving a White South African woman who is accused of using the infamously racist word “kaffir” against Black South African police officers who had responded to her distress call after thugs broke in to her car at a shopping mall.
South Africa has also been in the news for cases of slavery, which is reportedly common in the vineyards, most of which are owned by White farmers.
There are also reports of White South Africans being murdered by Black natives who claim they are the rightful owners of land currently owned by Whites.
