If anyone had their doubts about who started the argument, as seen in video footage of a verbal altercation between a male and female patron, Spur has now set the record straight.
In a statement released by Spur Corporation on Wednesday, the family restaurant issued an “unequivocal apology to Lebohang Mabuya and her family for the incident that took place at the Texamo Spur at The Glen Shopping Centre”.
Spur said they reviewed the CCTV footage of the incident and confirmed that Lebohang’s version of the events was accurate.
Spur said the footage shows the male patron grabbed her child in an “aggressive manner” and added that “his actions are unacceptable”.
"We have reviewed our CCTV footage of the incident and can confirm that Ms Mabuya’s version of events is accurate; the footage shows that her child was grabbed by the male customer in an aggressive manner and his actions are unacceptable."
Spur says it stands by their decision to ban the male customer and reiterated that physical aggression towards customers will not be tolerated.
"We affirm our decision to ban the male customer from our stores, physical aggression towards our customers, particularly against women and children will not be tolerated."
Spur CEO Pierre van Tonder said: “We will be talking to Ms Mabuya directly, at her convenience, and will apologise for what she and her family experienced. We will also offer her and her family trauma counselling and any other support where we can. I would like to again make it very clear that as an organisation we do not condone any forms of violence against women or children, irrespective of the circumstances.
Spur also acknowledged Lebohang’s apology, in recent media statements, for her inappropriate language used in this incident, and added that staff and management of the store did not sufficiently assist her .
“As an organisation we have learnt a valuable lesson and it is my priority at this stage to ensure that should something like happen again, our staff will be sufficiently prepared,” he says.