Black and Blue
Monday, June 02, 2008
An elderly businessman who called internationally renowned Cape Town artist Willie Bester a "k....r" in one of Cape Town's top restaurants was beaten up and had to be taken away in an ambulance.By all accounts, including those of Bester and Johann Smit, the restaurant manager, businessman Richard Sterne started the hostilities but came off worse.
Smit identified the man as Richard Sterne, father of the South African golfer of the same name.
The problems began when Sterne and his companion moved tables, and he reportedly left his cellphone and keys at the first table.
Bester told Weekend Argus he had been sitting in the bar with some friends when Sterne came in looking for his cellphone.
"He said it cost R20 000 and he was frantically looking for it."
Bester said the man returned to his seat but then jumped up and screamed at the woman he was with that the reason it was missing was because she had been talking to "f.....g coloureds".
"Everyone was looking at him. I told him it was not fair to make those remarks which were racist," said Bester.
Bester said an angry Sterne retorted he couldn't be racist because he employed 100 coloured people.
Bester asked restaurant staff to have Sterne removed from the restaurant, and when this did not happen he decided to leave.
"But the man went outside to the patio, grabbed a table and came running at me. The security stopped him but he grabbed a stone from the garden and tried to throw it at me."
Bester said the manager had repeatedly called security but they took some time to arrive.
"Then this man went into the bar and came out with a glass of red wine which he threw in my face. I went for him but he broke the glass and tried to stab me."
Bester said when Sterne came out of the bar he grabbed him and the next moment "fists were flying".
He said he couldn't say how many people had been involved.
"When I looked down I saw he had two blue eyes and blood streaming from a cut. He told me to stop and that he gave up. Then he said he would give me R1 000. I said 'no, I don't want your money'. At some point during the whole thing he called me a 'k****r'."
Bester, who was left with bruises and scratches, said he had not laid a charge with the police. "He did apologise and he had blood all over him. But if he lays charges I will lay counter charges."
Bester said it was not normally in his nature to get involved. "Maybe I should have kept quiet when he made that first comment, but I felt it was an insult. Even two white guys sitting in the bar said it wasn't fair to use that kind of language."
A restaurant patron, who asked not to be named, said she had been horrified by the incident. Sterne's language had been inexcusable but it had been terrible to watch him being so badly beaten that he had to be taken away in an ambulance.
"I thought he might be dead," she said.
Weekend Argus was unable to contact Sterne or his family for comment.
Originally found here.
Thanks to James for the heads up.
Apologies to Ed for the image.
Kudos to Willie Bester, for putting up fists.
posted by Robert Sloon at 12:17 PM
15 Comments:
If only Bester had had his Hottentot Venus to hand. The hideous one made of spare car parts that weighs about 2 tons and looks at me threateningly every time I go to the library on upper campus.
and it all went down at Baylon Sandri's La Perla
I'd like to see a celebrity deathmatch between WB and Andries Botha... Or one between Colin Richards and Willem Boshoff... Or one between Michael Stevenson and God...
hell yeah, represent Willie! Who fucking knew, man can handle.
OK but so Willie gave him a hiding which seems fair seeing as Sterne was the racist instigator. But there is a logic breakdown in this story which makes me doubt the way things unfolded event by event in the final violent confrontation.
Lets look it as it rolls out according to the constructed article.
'Bester asked restaurant staff to have Sterne removed from the restaurant, and when this did not happen he decided to leave.'
Okay so Bester 'leaves' the restaurant and is gone right. Well actually no, he has not left because then...
"... the man went outside to the patio, grabbed a table and came running at me."
Okay has he left yet ?
" The security stopped him but he grabbed a stone from the garden and tried to throw it at me."
Still hanging around ? (Go Willie, now before he stains your clothes) He still has a chance to leave properly because then ...
"... this man went into the bar and came out with a glass of red wine which he threw in my face."
Now this is an old man, I am figuring that Willie had time to get out of there while the old bugger went into the bar to arm himself ? But no
'I went for him but he broke the glass and tried to stab me.'
Not nice. But then what happened ?
'Bester said when Sterne came out of the bar he grabbed him and the next moment "fists were flying".'
When did Sterne pour the wine on Bester if he 'grabbed' Sterne when he 'came out of the bar' and where did the glass shank disappear to prior to Bester grabbing him? It is not so clear. Also why was Willie hanging around outside all this time if he had decided to 'leave'. What is he waiting for outside, while Sterne is going in and out and grabbing stones and tables and so on.
Not being able to find another version of this story is frustrating, it could help clarify what may or may not have happened. Certainly this version of events is neither satisfactory nor logical.
Maybe Sterne is an art critic?
ha ha
Dear Jacques, get off the verge boy. As a life long weakling and committed pacifist I have never understood why some acts of violence ( not just in self defence) receive HEROIC accolades: read the HOLY BIBLE, Shakespeare, etc down to World War 2 comics. Often, it seems there is a moral issue - like a damsel/ city/nation was saved - or a question of allegiance - like Us and the Huns, Man U vs. Chelsea. Oh Jacques, perhaps its's all unfair, non-objective -life is activism, if it's not a deep sleep. Pick a team, and back it? Or was there a HUGE injustice here. A man pushed beyond breaking point by the crass insults of the other? And years of this...
Perhaps a rotten comparison, because there are real people involved, victims of circumstance and victims of fate, ancestors. friends, dependents - but is this not The Tragedy of the Umbrella ( narrowly averted), Part 11.
Here's another issue Willie could help us with: Artthrob's monthly updates. Why do they have to only publish June on the 8th of June? What if I wanted to advertise my new exhibition of flash pottery and performance art using candle wax, curry and a swiss watch, which happens to start on June 4th? Should I send it to the May issue? Many magazines (including Auto Trader, Rooi Roos and Hustler to name but 4) publish their monthly issues even before the month starts, and apart from the earthquakes in China the world hasn't ended. Yet.
Satoshi
I don't think anyone needs a history lesson these days. My issue is with the 'truth' this article attempts to construct, and not about a postition on the racial abuse Bester faced or the lack of action on the part of La Perla management (You might as well be back in 1977 at La Perla). It seems too easy to feel the way the article wants you to feel.
The article says Bester left La Perla, but he doesn't actually go does he. This, perhaps accidentally leaves one space to presume that, he's 'not that innocent'and that he took the fight outside in the traditional manner.
I can't find your reading in the article, have read it again and again. I find your original comments offensive as they (in my reading) assert with some force and cunning that one should assume that W. B. is at least guilty in part (until found innocent...).
My reading of the article suggests that it was Sterne who got the History Lesson.
Not sure how comments about a poorly constructed article can cause offence, you must be very thin skinned Satoshi.
"thin skinned" = to take offense ? Surely it is possible describe a statement as "offensive" without implying that one is personally offended? I am astonished!
"thin skinned" = to take offense ? Surely it is possible to characterise a statement as "offensive" without implying that one is personally offended? I am astonished!
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
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