DA MP Phumzile van Damme stands her ground as party considers probe into V&A Waterfront 'assault' incident
26 August 2019
DA MP Phumzile Van Damme says she will not be "sacrificed at the altar" after a media report that the party is looking into a request to probe an alleged racist altercation she was involved in at the V&A Waterfront earlier this year.
News24 previously reported that Van Damme had said that she had punched a young man "in self-defence", after she claimed he came into her space and said "voetsek you black" and threw her phone on the ground.
In a video on Twitter, Van Damme explained what had happened in her view, saying she was standing in a queue when she became involved in a quarrel with the mother of a family at one of the supermarkets. The mother allegedly told her she would "push [her] aside".
"Then, when I went out, she was standing there with her family in a threatening manner. And I went to her and said, 'why are you looking at me in a threatening manner?' Then she said, 'it's because you're black'."