Videos and articles about an aggressive altercation between 43-year-old Nobuntu ‘Nobs’ Mkhize and cabin crew staff on a local flight between Durban and Cape Town on 26 December 2024 have been flooding the internet. In viral videos from the flight, Mkhize can be seen confronting the cabin crew, with eyewitnesses noting her apparent intoxication at the time.
DA opens a crimen injuria case
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has since opened a case of crimen injuria against Mkhize. The DA’s Western Cape Leader Tertuis Simmers and the DA sub council 15 chairperson Angus McKenzie laid the charge at the Bishop Lavis police station. The charge is due to Mkhize’s racial slurs hurled at the coloured staff member.
Crimen injuria consist of unlawfully and intentionally impairing the dignity or privacy of another person.
Simmers said it was clear from footage the passenger was infringing on the dignity of the air hostess. Mkhize was heard saying: ‘You’re a coloured from Mitchells Plain, all these gold rings but no degree. Right now when we land, I’m going to take an Uber home. You don’t even have a [driving] licence. You don’t even have a car.’
PA heading to the SAHRC
Meanwhile, the Patriotic Alliance (PA) has also indicated that it plans to lodge a complaint with the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC).
Kenny Kunene, the deputy president of the PA – a party with large support from coloured communities – said: ‘The offensive statements targeting members of the coloured community and her other disparaging remarks undermine the spirit of unity, dignity and respect that our Constitution seeks to uphold.’
The party also urged the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) to ‘take firm and decisive action’ to address the incident as Mkhize is an employee of the SABC.
Mkhize’s behaviour ‘unruly’, ANC
The African National Congress (ANC). However, the ANC issued a statement following the incident in which it describes the woman’s behaviour as ‘unruly’ and ‘unbecoming’. The party stated that it has initiated an investigation into the woman’s membership status.
ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri said the party noted the woman’s behaviour with ‘disgust and disdain’.
Additionally, FlySafair has placed Mkhize on its no-fly list.
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