DURBAN - WHAT was supposed to be a routine job in Hillcrest turned into a nightmare for a contractor, who had a gun pointed at him by an angry neighbour last week.
Dingane Mpofu, 36, who was hired to cut trees and do property maintenance at a residence, said he was busy with a chainsaw cutting a tree when he was alerted by one of his co-workers of the trouble with the neighbour.
“The man pointed a gun at me and said, ‘Hey you monkeys, you baboons, I will blow your head off’,” said Mpofu.
Mpofu said the neighbour then brought out his dogs, which included a pit bull, and ordered them to attack Mpofu and his co-workers.
“We jumped on to the back of the bakkie and picked up tools to use for protection against the danger posed by the dogs. My two children, who were seated in the front of the bakkie, were shaking with fright and I just asked them to keep the doors and windows shut,” Mpofu said.
He said he called the owner of the property they were working at to alert him to the standoff. The owner, Paul Calow, said he was shocked to learn of the incident and called the police.
“I have never seen anything like that, where one individual can throw racial slurs at citizens and even the police. It’s people like that who make one feel ashamed to be called white, because no one is supposed to discriminate on the grounds of race against another human,” said Calow, who is originally from England.
He told The Mercury that he was hoping for justice in the matter so such incidents did not occur in future.
Police spokesperson Captain Nqobile Gwala confirmed the arrest of a man from Hillcrest.
Mpofu is set to meet the SA Human Rights Commission this week.
THE MERCURY