When a phone is worth more than a life

Car guard on Bree Street in Cape Town.

Photo Credit: Siv Greyson via Wikimedia

On Saturday night, just after 6 pm, I was coming back with a family member from an event in Camps Bay in Cape Town. Having turned down De Lorenz Street towards Kloof Street,  we spotted a luxury German car stopped in the middle of the road with the doors open. Behind it, three young white men were beating up a black car guard. 

The men were kicking and hitting him, before lifting him up in an attempt to throw him onto the pavement. The car guard, who was totally limp didn’t fight back. We stopped, blew the horn of the car to attract attention and I jumped out. 

I shouted at the guys to immediately stop what they were doing and to get into their car. I was shouting so loudly that they clearly got a bit of a fright and paused for a second. One then continued to beat the man, while another shouted that the car guard had bumped against their car. This enraged me even more and I screamed at them to get into their car - and that we had called the police. This got their attention. They dumped the man next to the road, jumped into the car and sped away. 

We had by then got the registration number of their car and had phoned law enforcement. The car guard was lying on the pavement, barely conscious, shaking with shock. He was eventually able to sit up. Hugging his worn shoes which had come off during the altercation, he looked up at up me, his eyes filled with tears and fear. 

The other person who was with me had a tiny baby in the car, who was getting increasingly upset, so after being assured that help was on the way, we left the car guard in the care of a man who had heard my shouting and came to assist. Sadly, I later heard that the car guard left before law enforcement arrived. 

I also found out that the three men had returned to the scene a little while later. I initially thought that they had realised that they had made a big mistake and wanted to apologise to the car guard, and most likely try to buy him off in order not to lay charges. 

I was wrong – very wrong. It turned out that the only reason they had returned was to retrieve a cell phone that they lost in the assault. Imagine the incredible arrogance! 

What toxic masculinity and inhumanity do these men possess that they would kick and beat a skinny, clearly vulnerable man who was not even fighting back?

What incredible arrogance and certainty did they have that they did not think for a moment that their actions would get them into trouble?

This didn’t happen in some deserted back ally (and by the way, shame on all the men who walked past, leaving two women and a baby to intervene). It had all happened on a relatively busy street next to a restaurant bustling with customers.

Yet, they were so certain that their positions of racial and economic privilege would protect them that they kept beating the man even when there were eyewitnesses and with their car registration number clearly visible. It must have been that same arrogance and belief that their whiteness and daddy’s money would protect them, that made them come back to the scene of the crime for that oh-so-valuable cell phone. 

Sadly, the car guard is unlikely to press charges so most probably nothing will happen to these three men. They should thank their lucky stars for that. With the eyewitness statements a very likely guilty verdict would have meant many years in jail and the end of whatever plans they had for their lives. 

To the three men involved: I hope you read this piece and reflect on what happened on Saturday night. Your behaviour was despicable and you deserve to be in jail. You have no right to walk free in our society and I would have gladly stood up in court to make sure that the car guard got justice for what you did to him. 

If you are the parents of these young men, I hope that you will have a long discussion with them and while you are at it, take away the car, which I have to assume one of you gave to them since no one at their age could earn enough to afford such an expensive car. 

Sadly, I know that the car guard will likely never read this piece. I did tell  him on Saturday how sorry I was that it had happened to him and I tried to find him the next day, but like so many vulnerable people on our streets he had disappeared, most probably with his shoes still clutched to his chest.