Racism row at South African beach

Beaches and many other public areas were segregated under white minority apartheid rule. Photo / 123RF

A South African beach has become embroiled in a bitter racism row after a security firm allegedly turned away black bathers from the area, prompting protesters to ritually slaughter a sheep on its sands to ward off prejudice.

Security guards working on Clifton beach in Cape Town allegedly told black citizens to leave the site two days before Christmas in a bid to keep "criminals" away from the droves of tourists who visit each year.

In response, a group of protesters slaughtered a sheep on the beach in a ritual supposed to ward off racism, while others sang and burned incense. They clashed with animal rights activists on Friday night local time.

Beaches and many other public areas were segregated under white minority apartheid rule and have since been a flashpoint of racial tension.

Cape Town's mayor denied security firm PPA was asking only black residents to leave the beach and said it "did not single out any race groups".

Meanwhile, Alwyn Landman, the chief executive of PPA, said the company's guards did not close the beach and were only trying to protect local residents from criminal activity which had caused "mayhem" in the area.

However, Chumani Maxwele, a local activist, said the guards had deliberately told black people to leave. "These private security guards are hired by the Clifton [residents], they are briefed to not allow black people who appear to look like they are from the townships or criminals on to the beach," he told the News 24 website. "The offering of the sheep is calling on our ancestors to respond to our trauma at the hands of white people."

Patricia de Lille, the former mayor of Cape Town, said PPA had no lawful basis for closing off the beach to residents. "We have long passed the days of curfews and restricted movement," she said, adding that the latest incident "tramples on our hard-won constitutional rights and anyone who was forced to leave the beach should lay criminal charges with the police".

It is the latest in a series of controversies over the issue of racism on South Africa's beaches.

In 2016, South African estate agent Penny Sparrow likened black beach-goers to monkeys in a social media post, triggering widespread outrage. South Africa's Equality Court fined her 150,000 rand ($15,440).

And in September, South African tourist Adam Catzavelos ignited another storm of protest after he used a racial slur in a phone video message from Greece, boasting that the beach had no black people on it.