A Cradock farmer unleashed a social media storm after a picture showing a woman in a cage on the back of his bakkie went viral.
The picture, taken on Tuesday, shows farm worker Linda Steenkamp in a cage on the back of an Isuzu bakkie belonging to Johan Erasmus.
Erasmus, 41, defended himself from accusations on various social media platforms that he was racist.
Both he and Steenkamp claimed she had opted to travel in the cage even though there was space on the passenger seat in the front of the bakkie. Erasmus told the Daily Dispatch yesterday morning he had been “helping” Steenkamp out when he gave her a lift to town where she was going to a clinic.
Late yesterday afternoon a video of Steenkamp emerged on Facebook in which an unidentified female, speaking in Afrikaans, appears to coach her into giving her answers.
“So gave you the lift. You didn’t want to climb in the front because you are used to sitting at the back. Just give the right story there.”
To which Steenkamp responded: “ asked that I sit in the front but I said ‘no, it is hot sir, I’ll sit at the back because we are used to getting on at the back’.”
The Dispatch managed to speak to Steenkamp at the Erasmus home. His wife Leta answered our call and said she was with Steenkamp, who took the phone. Steenkamp said she was not forced by anyone to sit in the back of the bakkie and had wanted to sit there because it was hot.
Asked what she was doing at the Erasmus home, Steenkamp said they had fetched her yesterday morning from her house and she had been with them the whole day.
Asked if she had been coached to give the answers on the video, she insisted that was not the case.
Steenkamp said she did not understand the furore over the incident since no one had done anything wrong.
“I asked for a lift from the farm where I work going to town and Mr Erasmus allowed me to his car. I voluntarily said I wanted to sit at the back and I went inside the cage.”
She later said she was uncomfortable answering questions.
Erasmus said he was not a racist and had just been trying to help Steenkamp.
“The right story is ... first that thing is not a cage but a sheep cage that we use to weigh lambs,” he said.
“I was on the farm and that lady asked me for a lift into town and she on her own got into that thing and I dropped her in town.
“I am not happy about because I am trying to help people, but now this thing is going like I did something wrong.”
Even former DA leader Helen Zille got drawn into the matter when she tweeted: “The person caged in a bakkie. Owner has been traced. Emerging facts very serious and police onto it.”
But Cradock police spokesman Louis Stone said a case had not been opened regarding the incident.
Twitter user Brian Mncube tweeted: “Is Johan Erasmus okay being put in the cage. Let the community decide his fate.”
Thembani Ngcai added: “She ASKED to sit in a cage. In a cage? Because the bakkie has no aircon or windows you can roll down. And resembling an animal makes sense?”
Erasmus said “the sheep cage” filled the entire back of his bakkie, which could have been the reason why Steenkamp had to sit inside it.
However, the picture reveals space around the cage. — zingisam@dispatch.co.za
l See page 2 for transcript