A picture of a black woman sitting inside a cage on a bakkie is circulating on social media. Yes, really.
The picture, showing a white Isuzu bakkie with an Eastern Cape license plate angered many people who saw the image. The picture depicts the woman with her head bowed down.
IOL spoke to the owner of the vehicle Leta Schoeman, who said her husband Johan gave the woman a lift in the bakkie.
She told the publication that the unknown woman refused to get in the front of the bakkie and opted to sit at the back. The cage is apparently used to transport livestock.
"My husband weighs sheep and the cage can come off," Schoeman said.
The woman in the cage apparently wasn't available for comment.
It's the second racism incident to emerge on Thursday following the accusations levelled against an acting director from the city of Tshwane. The director allegedly called black people baboons and kaffirs.
Racisms incidents particularly on social media have become increasingly common.
- Durban-based real estate agent Penny Sparrow, who called black beachgoers monkeys with no education, is one of the most infamous examples.
- A Sodwana Bay guesthouse owner, Andre Slade, allegedly turned away black people from his establishment. He said blacks were made to be servants and that he was their king and should be referred to as Inkosi.
- Pretoria Girls High School was accused of calling black pupils monkeys and forcing them to straighten their natural hair. The learners claimed that they were not allowed to speak their home languages at school.
- Two Mpumalanga men caused an uproar when they assaulted a man and put him in a coffin. Willem Oosthuizen and Theo Martins Jackson were arrested following the incident.
- Sandton man Ben Sasonof recently sparked a racism storm when he said a Durban beach packed with black people must have smelt like the inside of President Jacob Zuma's "Asshole".
EWN reported that the driver explained he had just made a delivery to a farm when the woman asked to sit in the cage on the back of his bakkie.
Johan Schoeman told DispatchLIVE that he was doing a good deed but was not happy with how it was interpreted on social media. He also claimed that the cage fills the entire back of the bakkie which could be the reason why the woman was in the cage.
"I am not happy about that [being portrayed a racist] because I am trying to help people but how this thing is going is like I did something wrong."
Looking at the picture, there appears to be space alongside the cage.