OPINION

Video of altercation at Spur goes viral

Conflict escalates after (white) man tells (black) woman her child hit his

Man banned from Spur after trying to overturn table in heated argument

Johannesburg - Spur restaurants nationwide have banned a man from their eateries after an apparent scuffle between children in the play area of an Oakdene restaurant led to a near brawl between their parents.

A video of Sunday's incident circulated on social media. It recorded the mother of one child and the father of the other involved in a heated argument at the Texamo Spur at the Glen Shopping Centre, east of Johannesburg.

The man is heard telling the woman that her daughter had hit his son on the head, which he apparently witnessed through the window of the play area.

The mother counters that the child is tiny, telling the man that she won’t allow him to bully her.

Profanities

He tells her to do something about what happened, and she tells him to “just fuck off”.

The man then appears to stop himself from smacking her, saying, “Ek sal jou ‘n poes klap gee”.

The children sit around the table as the two adults scream profanities at each other. The man leaves, then laughs as he turns back after she calls him a bully and a coward and swears at him.

Bystanders and staff try to intervene and as the children are moved to different seats, the man tries to overturn their table.

He is then pushed by bystanders to walk away, and the woman calls him a bully and racist.

Someone is heard shouting “Fuck them!”, and the woman shouts “Fuck you too”.

“This is a democratic country, if you haven’t noticed,” she calls after him as he leaves.

Spur 'shocked, disappointed'

Spur in a statement described the incident as “unfortunate”, saying that the mall security was alerted when the incident escalated.

Staff and management said they had tried to intervene but were repeatedly pushed away by the “angry gentleman”.

“Upon viewing the video content that’s been circulated on social media we are shocked at the adults for behaving in the manner they did, especially with so many children around,” the statement read.

“We are very disappointed that children were exposed to this type of behaviour and would like to assure the public and all our loyal customers that we certainly do not condone any forms of racism or violence.”

The franchise has decided that the man would not be allowed at any of their restaurants nationally.

"We do not condone any forms of violence against women or children, irrespective of the circumstances."

News24