Top athlete speaks out after attack
SOUTH African 5 000m athletics champion Thabang Mosiako‚ who was attacked by a group of white students in the North West‚ says racism does not make sense.
Mosiako‚ and another athlete‚ Rantso Mokopane‚ were assaulted in an apparent racial attack last Sunday during a campus student fundraising Rag event for the University of North West‚ Potchefstroom campus. “I can’t believe I have to represent them‚ and they did this to me. The hatred is so rife‚ it’s like there’s no tolerance,” Mosiako said yesterday.
“I don’t understand why we allow these things to happen‚ or why they even happen. It doesn’t make sense.”
Mosiako was meant to compete in an athletics event in Algeria next month‚ but now there are fears that his head injuries could prevent him from running.
While waiting for his medical results – which will tell the extent and long-term effects of his injuries – Mosiako said he prays he will be able to run again.
“I just want to run‚ that’s what I do‚ I run. I am stressed as I don’t know what the doctor will say.
“My results were supposed to come out today. I feel better physically though‚ I have been discharged‚” Mosiako said. The EFF has spoken against the “racial” attack. “Mosiako tells a story of how they were targeted and attacked by a group of white men for intervening on behalf of a shopkeeper they were shouting at‚” EFF national spokesman Mbuyiseni Ndlozi said.
“These white men beat them up so much that the South African athlete can now no longer go to Algeria for the African champs in March due to head injuries.”
The EFF, which has called on the police to do a thorough investigation and bring the men into justice, asked the community to help identify the attackers.
Police are still looking for the men – possibly students – responsible for the attack.
North West police spokeswoman LieutenantColonel Adele Myburgh said a task team had been established to investigate the matter.