Police investigate viral assault of black female employee at McDonald's

McDonald's South Africa has confirmed police have been notified to investigate the incident where a black female employee was assaulted by a white male customer, which went viral on social media after it was filmed by a customer.

A month following the incident at the Kenilworth branch, Daniel Padiachy, chief marketing officer at McDonald’s South Africa, confirmed the case was ongoing and had been reported to police.

“We can confirm that the matter has been reported to the relevant authorities,” he said. 

Earlier, McDonald’s South Africa confirmed it started an investigation into the assault.

Gender-based violence activist organisations also jumped on board and said the incident highlighted the racial discrimination that women continued to endure and that it was not an isolated event, but spoke of the broader issue of abuse that women of colour faced daily.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), also called for a full investigation.

The South African Human Rights Commission said they were unaware of the incident at the time.

In the video, the female black worker is heard informing the customer “you wait for your food", while the white man enters in area behind the counter -  a section reserved for employees only. 

The man is then seen raising his hand and pushes up her abruptly.

She then tells him to stop pushing her.

“Don’t dare push me,” she shouts.

She has a chip fryer in her hands and uses it to protect herself while the man continues with his assault, attempting to hit her as she pushes him away.

She responds with “who do you think you are, to hit a woman?".

He then disappears out of sight but is still in the kitchen.

Shocked male patrons filmed the incident and later a group of frustrated males enter in a bid to help the worker and confront him and this is when the camera is turned off.

Cape Argus