Former Miss SA called a monkey on Human Rights Day
Miss South Africa 2010 Bokang Montjane took to social media on Human Rights Day after an altercation with a couple on the road.
"We commemorate Human Rights Day to reinforce our commitment to the Bill of Rights as enshrined in our Constitution. One of the rights is: Human dignity - everyone has inherent dignity and have their dignity respected and protected. And mine was violated today," she posted on all her social media platforms.
Bokang told Jacaranda FM News that she was sitting in traffic on Hendrik Potgieter Drive in Johannesburg, waiting to turn when a couple starting yelling at her.
"They called me a monkey and at first I thought I will be the bigger person and let it slide, but then it dawned on me that today is Human Rights Day and that I will be doing myself a disservice by keeping quiet," she told MornéJK.
She says she made the couple pulled over and demanded that they speak to her "like a human being" and the two felt very bad for their remarks.
ALSO READ: Spur confrontation "sends poor message to children": Gender Equality Commission
"An apology is not enough because those people will go on and raise children with the same mind-set, and in the future their kids will have the same reaction to my kids - and I won't allow it," she says.
Bokang says a lot of the times women are the victims, because they cannot physically fight back.
"That is why I decided that today I will bring this road to a standstill and make these people apologise,' she says.
The former beauty, who was also crowned Miss World Africa, says as South Africans we can't continue to condone racial slurs.
"After so many years of being a democratic country, colour is still a very big issue in our country, she says.
She adds that her grandparents and parents experienced the most direct form of racism during apartheid, but that she is choosing not to be a victim and to stand up for herself.
"To the young people of our country: Despite of all the challenges in South Africa, stop focussing on the negative and remember you can be whatever you want to be," Bokang says.