Maraza furious over an alledged racial profilling incident at Pick n Pay

Rapper Maraza is spitting fire over an
alleged racial profiling incident at a Pick n
Pay store where he was apparently
followed and stopped by security to
“verify” his purchase.
The musician told TshisaLIVE he was
stopped by security after buying groceries
worth over R8,000 and was asked if they
could check his purchase.
Maraza claimed that he was given no
explanation over being questioned and felt
like a “criminal”.
“I believe that they were tracking me.
There were a number of times when
security came to me to tell me they were
closing and asked why I was doing so
much shopping just before closing time. I
was treated like a criminal. This was not
right,” he said.
Maraza added that he was told that he
could not leave while other customers
walked out with trolleys full of groceries.
“People were staring at me like I had done
something wrong. They did not say I was
a criminal but they said I cannot leave
until my purchase has been verified. This
while a number of white people were
allowed to leave with trolleys full of
goods,” he explained.
The rapper believes that he was
discriminated against because of his way
of dressing and colour of his skin.

“I was discriminated against because my
pants were saggy and I was black and
spending so much money. I am not
fighting a race issue. I am fighting a
social profiling issue,” he said.

Speaking on social media he called the
incident one of the “most common forms
of systematic racism” and said that he
was later released with no further
explanation.
In a statement issued to TshisaLIVE

Pick
n Pay apologised for the incident and
denied that Maraza was profiled. Instead
the supermarket chain blamed the
incident on problematic card transactions
at the store.

“We apologise for any inconvenience
experienced by Maraza and have tried to
contact him directly. Our Pick n Pay
Killarney branch has experienced a
number of problematic card transactions,
particularly at closing time. The store put
random checks in place, and this was one
of them. Customers were not profiled and
the security officer on duty did not ask to
check Maraza’s groceries. Only the card
transaction itself was verified,”  said Pick
n Pay spokesperson Tamra Veley.

However, Maraza told TshisaLIVE that he
was still waiting for a personal apology
from Pick n Pay and was not sure he
would accept it unless it was sincere.

“My feeling towards Pick n Pay still
hasn’t changed. They have not contacted
me. I don’t want them to apologize
through the media. I want them to reach
out to me and speak to me personally
about the incident,” he added.