Forgiveness is the “Punchline” After Aggressive Attack in South Africa

Earlier this week in Paarl, two men were involved in a road rage incident which escalated to a racist altercation… in which the one, a white driver, struck the other, a coloured driver, in the face with a wooden stick, and threatened to kill him with a pickaxe. BUT in a scene that is becoming more popular in South Africa today, yesterday they bathed each other’s feet, and prayed together, as they met for forgiveness and reconciliation. Watch below.

The men – Marius Geldenhuys and Egan Ezra Vorster – were introduced through a mutual friend at their local church who had viewed the video and photos which Vorster upload to Facebook. (SAPeople chose not to share the video and photos at the time as they were inciting further racist remarks.)

In the post Vorster described with good humour what happened after Geldenhuys had almost driven into him.

“When I passed him and gave him the ‘head-shake’, he responded by calling me a ‘hotnot‘ -which is Cape for ‘I don’t like you because you have a nice tan’. He then swerved in front of me a 2nd time, showing aggressive hand-signs and even though my lip-reading is not on CIA-field-agent level, I could make out the words ‘ek sal jou bliksem‘ – which is Afrikaans slang for ‘I will make you say ‘Eina‘.’ Eina means ouch by the way.”

Vorster said he followed Geldenhuys – whom he named ‘Mr Padvark‘ (road pig) – until he stopped and the two had the altercation. Vorster remained in his car while Geldenhuys “jumped out and grabbed a large wooden stick from his car which he used to strike me in the face”.

The video was shocking to watch, with a barrage of bad language and insults… which makes yesterday’s reconciliation even more incredible. Both men came together with humility showing just how individuals, and a nation, can embrace one other and tackle problems and conflict in a peaceful, meaningful manner.

Geldenhuys apologised for calling Vorster a ‘hotnot‘. According to the Daily Voice, his friend acknowledge he had anger issues, and said he has been going through a rough time with a divorce.

Vorster has since removed his previous post, and has replaced it with the reconciliation ritual instead, saying: “Forgiveness. That’s the punchline.”

At the end of the video, Vorster says: “God forgives and we have no right to hold grudges and to not forgive.”

Watch reconciliation after road rage incident in Paarl, South Africa:

https://www.facebook.com/Egan.Vorster/videos/10211978822238443/