Race row after guards order black people off Cape Town beach

Private security firm allegedly told beachgoers to vacate a fashionable spot over the Christmas holiday

Protestors from different political groups take part in a demonstration on Clifton beach in Cape Town. AFP

A race row has erupted in South Africa after a private security company allegedly ordered black beachgoers to vacate a fashionable Cape Town beach over the Christmas holiday.

A sheep was slaughtered on Clifton beach on Friday in a supposed ritual to tackle racism after beachgoers were told to leave by guards from the PPA company last Sunday, two days before Christmas.

Beaches, like many public areas, were segregated under white-minority apartheid rule, and have since been a flashpoint of racial tension in South Africa.

Cape Town's mayor dismissed claims by PFA that the firm was working for city authorities when patrolling the beach in the upmarket coastal suburb.

Mayor Dan Plato said the company "had no authority to ask anyone to leave Clifton beach", but he added that "they asked people of all races to leave, and did not single out any race groups".

He accused some "opportunistic political organisations" of exploiting the incident "to drive a highly divisive and politicised racial agenda".

Local activist Chumani Maxwele claimed the guards had targeted black people on the beach, which attracts huge crowds over the holiday season.

"These private security guards are hired by the Clifton [residents], they are actually briefed to not allow black people who appear to look like they are from the townships or criminals onto the beach," he told News 24.

"The offering of the sheep is calling on our ancestors to respond to our trauma at the hands of white people," he added.

A few dozen protesters, carrying placards reading "reclaim our beach" and "let's make Clifton black again", gathered on the beach on Friday evening.

Singing protest songs, they burned incense and slaughtered a sheep in a ritual they said was to cleanse the beach of racism.

A handful of people, including animal rights activists, protested against the sacrifice.

The ANC government weighed in over the row, with deputy police minister Bongani Mkongi vowing to "go hard on the security company.

"This is a property of the state, property of the people and therefore we don't need security companies here," Mkongi said.

PPA chief executive Alwyn Landman said that the company's guards did not close the beach, but acted to protect local residents, saying criminal activity had caused "mayhem".

The city has appealed for people who felt threatened or intimidated by security guards to lodge a complaint with the police.

This is the latest in a series of controversies over the issue of racism on South Africa's beaches.

In 2016, an estate agent Penny Sparrow likened black beachgoers to monkeys in a social media post, triggering widespread outrage. She was fined 150,000 rand.

In September, South African tourist Adam Catzavelos ignited another storm of protest after he used a racial slur in a phone video message from Greece, boasting that the beach had no black people on it.