Late on Thursday afternoon, Gautrain user Atiyya Karodia witnessed an incident of harassment at a Gautrain bus stop in Rosebank. She took to Twitter on Friday to relate what she had witnessed.
I was at the Gautrain bus station yesterday, & there was a homeless man chatting to the drivers. A white man stood next to me…
— Atiyya Karodia (@TheAttaMonster) December 5, 2014
There was some playful banter between the
drivers and this guy, but then, he turned to the homeless man & said that he’s obviously
from zim
— Atiyya Karodia (@TheAttaMonster) December 5,
2014
He then proceeded to tell the homeless man that he should just “go back to fucking Zim” & then said “go to Julius and suck his cock”
— Atiyya Karodia (@TheAttaMonster) December 5, 2014
The homeless man was quite worked up and
swore at the white guy in vernac, at which point he pushed this homeless man over
—
Atiyya Karodia (@TheAttaMonster) December 5,
2014
He started beating the homeless man up, choking him on the floor&said “I am White Power, POES!”. The man didn’t fight back. @TheBlackVoice
— Atiyya Karodia (@TheAttaMonster) December 5, 2014
He continued to choke the homeless man on the
floor, with the Gautrain bus drivers watching
— Atiyya Karodia (@TheAttaMonster) December 5,
2014
The drivers only pulled them apart when the homeless man in his bid to get this man off him tried to fight back.
— Atiyya Karodia (@TheAttaMonster) December 5, 2014
This guy then got on the bus and told the
homeless man “you want to fuck me up, come fuck me up you Zulu”
— Atiyya
Karodia (@TheAttaMonster) December 5,
2014
He stood at the door of the bus turned around&told the homeless man “do you want to fuck me?” &bent over. The white passers by laughed along
— Atiyya Karodia (@TheAttaMonster) December 5, 2014
This douchebag was still allowed to get on the bus,
walked in and asked a fellow white passenger “do you think we made the
news?”
— Atiyya Karodia (@TheAttaMonster) December 5,
2014
He then apologised to the driver and me, but i turned the other way and shook my head. So he gave a grunt and said “she hates me bru”
— Atiyya Karodia (@TheAttaMonster) December 5, 2014
Then he laughed, put on a pilot’s voice and
said “people of the Northern Suburbs, I apologise for the delay..”
— Atiyya
Karodia (@TheAttaMonster) December 5,
2014
I could have called it a general altercation, but when a white man is choking a homeless man and says “I am White Power, poes”, it changes
— Atiyya Karodia (@TheAttaMonster) December 5, 2014
We should be ashamed of ourselves that racists
like this can still live in our country and remain this privileged.
— Atiyya Karodia
(@TheAttaMonster) December 5,
2014
When the Daily Vox contacted her, Karodia said she was most upset that onlookers did nothing to intervene for some time, while others even laughed as  the perpetrator mocked the homeless man. “Even though he apologised, it wasn’t sincere, he didn’t care, he was perfectly fine with joking about it afterwards.”
The Gautrain Head Office declined to give comment on the matter, and attempts to speak to spokespeople were unsuccessful.
Do you, or anyone you know, have any more information about this incident? Contact us.
