A disturbing video of a Black South African man being forced into a wooden coffin and threatened with death by a White South African landowner has left the country racially divided, reopening wounds from the Apartheid-era which ended more than 20 years ago, according to the Daily Mail.
In the video, that is believed to have been recorded in the coastal South African province of KwaZulu-Natal, the White man threatens to lock his subject inside the coffin and set it on fire, while another White man who is recording the incident can be heard threatening to put a snake inside the coffin.
On YouTube, Sebastian Luke commented about the video, “I don’t get how someone can be so heartless towards an innocent person, I heard that the Black African is a farm worker,”
In the clip, the two White men are yelling in Zulu language, which is commonly spoken by Black South Africans and a segment of White South African landowners.
Racial Division & Xenophobia
The divisive comments made on social media regarding the 20-second clip reveal the racial tension that still exists in South Africa.
While the majority of South Africans have condemned the cruelty and abuse portrayed in the footage, some are arguing that the Black man must have committed a serious crime to deserve such punishment.
For example, one Danie Botha wrote on YouTube: “In 1994 I would have been disgusted, but now after 22 years of “democracy,” no sympathy. This is what Black people [are] dishing out daily. Kindly Google Mientjie Potgieter to understand my feelings.”
KwaZulu-Natal has recently been marred by regular attacks on White farmers by Black locals who claim to be the original owners of the land, which was stolen by White settlers during the colonial period.
Apart from the apparent animosity between some Black and White South Africans, the country is also often confronted by the issue of xenophobic attacks on migrants from other African countries.
Earlier this year, some native South Africans waged war against migrants from Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Ethiopia, and other African countries, accusing them of taking their jobs and being criminals.
Dozens of businesses, mostly owned by non-locals, were also looted and set on fire.
