Cape Town - Master braaier Jan Braai and retailer Food Lover’s Market, have dismissed claims of racism following an incident at Willowbridge Shopping Centre in Tyger Valley on Saturday.
This after Jan Braai, real name Jan Scannell, allegedly only handed out free kerriewors rolls to white shoppers, overlooking customers of colour.
Jan Braai video a coloured man waiting for Jan Braai to acknowledge him, went viral on social media, and has since been deleted by Food Lover’s Market.
In a joint statement, Food Lover’s Market and Jan Braai said they were aware of the allegations that only selected shoppers received the boerewors rolls, however, the allegations were baseless, they said.
“We enjoyed a lovely day out at our Willowbridge store, giving customers a taste of the Jan Braai Kerriewors.
“Shoppers, from all walks of life, had great fun sampling delicious free boeries.
“We are aware of allegations making the rounds that only selected shoppers received boerewors rolls. “This is simply not true. “This allegation is based on an uncharitable interpretation of a single video, which was a small snapshot of the day. Anyone who was there would find the allegation laughable.
“We removed the original video posted though because it was a poor reflection of just how successful and inclusive the day was.
“We have replaced it with a new video. For the record, we wish to refute that some shoppers were singled out and can happily confirm that boeries were handed out to everyone. We can also confirm that Jan Braai Kerriewors was a massive hit with young and old.”
Among the scores of social media users who spoke out over the video was National Coloured Congress (NCC) PR councillor Anastatia Stacy Davids, who said: “Whether people want to shy away from this incident, a lot can be read into Jan Braai’s behaviour.
“Some of them try to do it subtly and with unintentional actions. But I’m glad I could screen-record it before he deleted it, because already a lot were commenting in disgust. If he wasn’t guilty of anything, why delete the video?
“We do not condone this behaviour, and we will remain the voice for the voiceless. We will not allow micro aggressions towards people of colour in this country,” Davids said.
On Facebook, Mavis Vannie Lavis wrote: “It’s not right that our coloured people are excluded from Jan Braai and Food Lover’s promotions.”
Claude Mullins said: “Jan Braai is anti-Heritage Day. People braai your own sausage. Leave it, support our own people man.”
Leader of the opposition in the Western Cape, the ANC’s Khalid Sayed, said the party noted the allegation levelled against Jan Braai.
“We are seriously concerned if indeed these allegations are true that only white patrons or customers were offered rolls.
“Notwithstanding this, our deeper concern is with an atmosphere of racism that has become the norm in the Western Cape.
“We repeat our calls that we’ve made to the premier of the Western Cape to convene a constructive dialogue with all stakeholders, with civil society, political formations, religious leaders, and everybody regarding the dangers of racism so that we can get the cancer of racism out of our system in the Western Cape,” Sayed said.