Argument turns ugly

Date: 07 September 2015 By: Isabel Venter

An argument that spiralled out of control was apparently the cause of an accident in Louis Trichardt’s Songozwi Street on Wednesday morning. Bystanders were quick, however, to label the incident as white-on-black racism.

According to information available to the newspaper at the time of our going to press, a white lady was seen fleeing the scene of the accident, which took place almost right in front of the Wimpy. The lady, who was driving a Jeep, had apparently crashed into a parked BMW.

An eyewitness, Ms Ronel Welman, was nearly part of the accident. She was driving in a westerly direction along Songozwi Street when the driver of the Jeep hastily pulled out of a parking bay right in front of her, nearly also crashing into Welman. Moments before, Welman was parked near PlayBoy Sports. She recalls seeing an unruly mob crowding around the parked Jeep. “It looked like the crowd was arguing with the lady … but I can’t say for sure what they were arguing about,” said Welman.

The argument escalated as Welman pulled out of her parking bay and started driving. It was then that the lady driver of the Jeep also decided to drive away, apparently to escape the crowd. Nearly hitting Welman, the woman swerved and collided with the BMW.

Welman said she witnessed the crash in her rearview mirror as she was standing in line at the red traffic light on the corner of Songozwi and Krogh Street. After crashing into the BMW, the Jeep driver quickly reversed and turned right into Krogh Street. “I couldn’t see where she went from there,” said Welman.

At that stage, news of this alleged “racist incident” spread like a wildfire through town. Despite rumours that the woman went into hiding after she had fled the scene, the newspaper was quickly able to confirm that this was not the case. The woman had driven to the Makhado SAPS to report the matter.

At the time of our going to press, local police spokesperson Const Irene Radzilane said that the station was in the process of completing an accident report and that no case for further investigation had been opened yet. She was not able to confirm whether the driver of the Jeep had been in a confrontation with the group of people that was apparently circling her car, or what the nature of the apparent argument was that had sparked the chaos. Radzilane could also not confirm if any serious injuries had occurred as a result of the accident.

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Isabel Venter

Isabel joined the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror in 2009 as a reporter. She holds a BA Degree in Communication Sciences from the University of South Africa. Her beat is mainly crime and court reporting.

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