S African woman held after ‘racist’ rant

A woman has been arrested after a Whatsapp voice message circulated on social media seeming to call for black people to be banned in South Africa, police said.

A case has been opened in Boksburg, a suburb 30km (18 miles) east of Johannesburg, against a woman who allegedly sent the voice message calling for a ban on black people instead of pitbulls.

Police said in a statement on Saturday they were investigating ‘a case of crimen injuria’, or wilful injury to a person’s dignity by the use of racially offensive language.

“The suspect aged 60 years old was arrested and released the same day on a warning.” She will appear in court next March.

The voice message follows a call from some South Africans to ban pitbulls following a rise in cases reported where the dogs have mauled people, particularly children. Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi on Twitter thanked police for their ‘swiftness’, adding, ‘racists are mindless and useless!’.

In the voice message a woman can be heard saying ‘ban the black man, they rape they steal, they kill worse than any pitbull could ever get away with it’.

“Get all the black woman and cut out their uteruses and their ovaries, that they cannot procreate.” South Africa remains deeply divided along racial lines almost three decades after Nelson Mandela came to power vowing national reconciliation following the end of white-minority apartheid rule.

The voice message caused outrage on social media.