(MISA/IFEX) – On 2 September 2003, a camera operator from e-tv, a commercial station, was assaulted and a colleague of his was threatened in an allegedly racial attack in upmarket Sandton, Johannesburg. Lensman Shabani Ramenu and producer Debbie Meyer were accosted while on assignment for the current affairs series “Third Degree”. According to a statement […]
(MISA/IFEX) – On 2 September 2003, a camera operator from e-tv, a commercial station, was assaulted and a colleague of his was threatened in an allegedly racial attack in upmarket Sandton, Johannesburg.
Lensman Shabani Ramenu and producer Debbie Meyer were accosted while on assignment for the current affairs series “Third Degree”.
According to a statement from Ramenu, the assailant, Justin Hope, threatened the journalist and made racist remarks towards him earlier in the evening when he arrived at a townhouse complex to interview a source for the show.
Hope, a resident of the complex, was not involved in the story that e-tv was recording.
Ramenu, who was wearing an e-tv cameraman’s jacket, said he identified himself as a journalist and challenged Hope to make his statements on camera. According to the cameraman, this only made Hope more aggressive. He then allegedly threatened to assault Ramenu, warning him, “You don’t know who you are messing with!”
About a half hour later, Ramenu revisited the scene with Meyer to interview their source for the show.
Ramenu alleges that as soon as they arrived, Hope assaulted him. Meyer confirms that Hope attacked Ramenu without provocation, pinned him to the ground, choked him and beat him on the head with his fists. Hope also smashed the video camera in the attack.
When Meyer verbally intervened, Hope turned on her, issuing racial epithets and threatening to injure her as well. It was only when a resident of the complex, whom the journalists were there to interview, told Hope that she knew the couple that he stopped his tirade and returned to his flat.
Meyer and Ramenu phoned the police, who arrived and arrested Hope. Police confiscated a leather cosh from him on his arrest.
Hope was later released on R500 bail (approx. US$67). He was charged with assault, damage to property and crimen injuria. The case will be heard in October.
Ramenu and Meyer are back at work. While Ramenu has no visible scars from the ordeal, a brainscan in his hospital report did indicate some tissue damage.
Hope warned e-tv, through his lawyer, not to report on this issue or broadcast footage of the assault on the “Third Degree” programme. E-tv, however, proceeded with the programme.
