Swapna Prabhakaran
A restaurant in the upmarket Johannesburg suburb of Rosebank has been accused of racism after five black men were barred at the doors by the bouncer. The men had come from Namibia and Zimbabwe to do a course in sports journalism and made their way to the Storyville resturant, accompanied by a white Durban journalist.
Only the white man, Marc Strydom, was allowed entry. He sat at the bar and waited for his friends but they were stopped at the door. The bouncer, a broad-shouldered, muscled man, stood in the doorway with his arms folded, and told the visitors in a surly voice: “We only allow regulars in here.”
Strydom protested that he had never been there before and could not possibly be a regular. When he demanded that his friends be let in, the bouncer kicked him out too.
They said they felt humiliated, but the bouncer told them he was only following orders.
Strydom said: “The bouncer knew what he was doing. He saw a group of black men and he just didn’t let them in.”
In an angry letter to local newspapers one of the group, Goliath Mungwange, wrote: “Apartheid lives in South Africa and I believe each example should be publicised and rooted out.” His concluding paragraph suggested Storyville’s liquor licence might be opposed the next time it comes up for renewal.
Storyville’s manager, Michael Papadakis, denied there was racism in his restaurant. “If you come to our venue, you will see all sorts here. There are coloureds, Indians, blacks, all sorts.”
I went to the venue with other Mail & Guardian black journalists and we were not allowed in. I stood at the door for 10 minutes while my friends politely argued with the bouncer. In that time, the only people who were allowed in were white. When I asked some of them if they were “regulars” they all said they were not.
I asked the bouncer: “How does one become a regular?” To which he replied, “Regulars are decent people who come here on weekdays also. They don’t start fights.”
Papadakis says it is their policy to only “let in people who look respectable, who are over the age limit, who are regulars.” He said the bouncer – whose name he would not reveal – decides who qualifies as a regular.
When I told him I and three of my friends were not allowed in he said, “Well I can’t be at the door 100% of the time, so I don’t know what the bouncer thought when he saw you. Maybe the bouncer had a bad day that day. Maybe he just didn’t want to let you in. But he always has a reason. That’s not racist, is it?”
Papadakis says his door policy is to protect his customers. “This is the end part of Rosebank. Things are getting bad here. There are always police on the streets, the army walks up and down, people are getting a bit violent … So, the way I see it, the doorman performs an important function. He lets people in or he doesn’t. That’s that.”