A black mark on Taupo

[SinghDude]

http://www.iol.co.za/sport/rugby/a-black-mark-on-taupo-1.1145277

“Tik! Tik! Get your fresh tik here! Special price today! While stocks last! Coke to make you joke! Crack that will put you on your back! Mandrax! Cat! Dagga to make you lagga! Heroin to make you spot trains! E’s to make the bunnies funny!”

Vata Ngobeni, the rugby writer for the Pretoria News will be greeted by those words, or something very similar, for the next month of this Rugby World Cup after he was detained on suspicion of dealing in drugs by the police in Taupo on Saturday night.

We, his mates, will rag him for the rest of the tournament, and there is over a month to go. That’s four weeks of mocking, ragging and taking the p***. We will not stop. That’s because we are kids and being on a sports tour is a big school jol with the same sort of rules and behaviour.

Yet, what happened to Vata pierced that cocoon. In his column he describes how he was detained, searched, released and, with profuse apologies, let go.

Vata was the only black man in The Shed in Taupo on Saturday night. I had been there earlier with Mike Greenaway for the All Black-France match. Not a jot of bother for us, though – a few drunks, a few desperate New Zealand women, also drunk, a few Poms singing and swinging a chariot. “One of the officers approached me and told me that I fit the description of a man they were looking for who offered one of the patrons narcotics but I denied the allegation,” wrote Vata.

On Monday, he told me the police told him he was detained under Section 29 and that they would be searching him. He offered to let them search him there and then, and identified himself as a South African journalist. They insisted he go with them to the station. Vata was furious.

The only black man in the bar and they zeroed in on him. Believe me, there are a few honkies in the SA contingent who look dodgier than Vata. It’s not the first time black South African sports journalists have been treated differently on tour.

In 2003 I was in a place in downtown Brisbane with Greenaway. Liam Del Carme called me. The bouncer outside wouldn’t let himself, Echbert Boesak (then with SABC), Simnikiwe Xabanisa (then of the Sunday Times) and Owen Nkumane (former Bok, then of SABC) in. I walked out and confronted the bouncer. Not my brightest move, but I was three vodkas down and brave. I asked him why they couldn’t come in. He pointed to their shoes and said they were not “clubby or funky enough”. I pointed to the shoes of the very white boys behind me in the bar and said they were exactly the same. He got stroppy. So did I. “Call your boss.”

The boss came. He towered over me. “Problem, sir?” Ah no. I’m going to die in Brisbane. “Come stand over here and let’s chat, sir.” Ah no. He doesn’t want to kill me in front of the customers. Deep breath. “Your bouncer here won’t let my mates in. We’re South African journalists on tour. They’re wearing the exact same clothes as people inside. Mate, is it because they are four black guys in a crowd?” He looked at my mates, at me, then spoke to his bouncer: “You’re absolutely right, sir. Let them in.”

Vata is one of my closest friends and colleagues. We speak often about rugby and of how one day it may become the first black, Afrikaans-speaking sport in South Africa. Taupo has been good to the South Africans, but Saturday night will be a stain on the town for us from now on, which is a pity.

Vata is black. He can’t dance, though, but he’s black and he was picked out of a crowd because of that. It’s sad that it happened in the land of the All Blacks. - The Star

Wonder how many Blacks actually live in Taupo.:wtf:

 

[alloytoo]

They support All-Blacks

 

[McSack]

Vata is black. He can’t dance, though, but he’s black and he was picked out of a crowd because of that. It’s sad that it happened in the land of the All Blacks. - The Star

What k@k. He was picked out of a crowd because he fitted the description of someone reported to be selling drugs .

 

[Pitbull]

Who gives a crap. Now no black people will go to Taupo and that is what the people there wanted. Win win it seems.

What's the issue?

 

[McSack]

Who gives a crap. Now no black people will go to Taupo and that is what the people there wanted. Win win it seems.

What's the issue?

Now if only camps bay could pull a similar stunt with a german tourist in socks and sandles

 

[Flanders]

What k@k. He was picked out of a crowd because he fitted the description of someone reported to be selling drugs .

Exactly.

And this was my guess before it was even confirmed. Doesn't look like this is going away any time soon.

 

[R13...]

Exactly.

And this was my guess before it was even confirmed. Doesn't look like this is going away any time soon.

It will blow over now that the chief pig has officially refused to apologise for this blatant racial profiling. Where was the shark**** patron that reported him? They should have asked him along to do point where he offered them drugs.

Wouldn't be a thread without the usual defenders chiming in with the usual rationalizing attempts

 

[Flanders]

It will blow over now that the chief pig has officially refused to apologise for this blatant racial profiling. Where was the shark**** patron that reported him? They should have asked him along to do point where he offered them drugs.

Wouldn't be a thread without the usual defenders chiming in with the usual rationalizing attempts

Oh boy...here we go...

My post from early on in the other thread (before it was known that he matched a prior description):

A bit harsh possibly but maybe there was a prior matching description in the area and since this is NZ we're talking about here, the presence of a black man could be considered something of a rarity - relatively speaking? In the same way obviously as having the SAPS arrest the wrong Maori suspect on suspicion of drug peddling in the heart of Hillbrow. Conceivable I'd say.

Anyway, I wouldn't call it a "rationalizing attempt" because, blow me down but...that's what happened!

This could've happened anywhere to any one member of a minority group where they happened to match a given description. Sure, it was a mistake - a blatant cock-up even! Maybe the cops could've been more accomodating....more supportive...more apologetic...more this...more that...but this uncomfortable little fact remains: only when it's a black man on the receiving end does it make international flippin' headlines!

 

[alloytoo]

It will blow over now that the chief pig has officially refused to apologise for this blatant racial profiling. Where was the shark**** patron that reported him? They should have asked him along to do point where he offered them drugs.

Wouldn't be a thread without the usual defenders chiming in with the usual rationalizing attempts

Apologise for what?

The police followed procedure and the law. This is just African arrogance thinking he can bully law enforcement officials. Sorry that doesn't work in New Zealand.

 

[alloytoo]

when it's a black man on the receiving end does it make international flippin' headlines!

Because he's a journalist with a chip on his shoulder.