The shop owner who was questioned about ID's.
Image: Screenshot
A South African man operating a photocopy shop next to the Department of Home Affairs on Umgeni Road has spoken out following a viral social media video showing an angry group questioning him about eight identity documents found in his possession.
In the video circulating on social media, multiple people from the group spoke over one another, giving the man little opportunity to respond.
One person in the group wore a March and March badge.
During the incident, a person was heard saying: "I'm telling you. I'm saying, if they forgot it, why don't you tell them next door? Home Affairs is right next door. Why don't you go and say, 'Home Affairs, people left their IDs here'?"
After a muffled response from the shop owner, the individual continues: "Oh, you forgot? So all of this happened in one day. So you forgot how many days? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11 days you forgot?"
The POST spoke to the shop owner, who did not want to reveal his name.
He said he feared for his safety following the incident and the public reaction on social media. The man also addressed claims circulating online that he was a Pakistani national, insisting that he was a South African citizen.
"March and March came into the shop yesterday. It was the first time they had come here. We had never experienced this issue in the past. I am a South African citizen and I have had my shop here since 2021 with no issues from anyone," he said.
According to the shop owner, the group entered the premises after two foreign nationals arrived to photocopy their identity documents.
"The March and March people did not give me a chance to explain myself. They entered my shop because they saw two foreigners come in to photocopy their IDs. That is what we do. We do not know if you are illegal or not; it is not something we can just ask.
"The woman ran upstairs and they questioned me about why I was hiding her. I said it was not the case. There is a toilet upstairs, you can go get her if you want."
He said that while they were questioning him, members of the organisation noticed several identity documents stored in a glass display cabinet.
"While they were interrogating me, they saw our glass cabinet had a few IDs kept inside. They got angry and I told them those are old IDs. People come in to photocopy documents and forget their IDs, so we leave them in the glass cabinet where they can see them and collect them. They refused to listen and started accusing me of making fake IDs."
The shop owner said the confrontation continued until they called the police.
I explained the whole situation and they understood. They let me off with a warning. I did nothing wrong. It is an innocent misunderstanding taken out of context. I have run my business for five years and have never experienced a situation like this before,” he said.
March and March did not respond at the time of publishing.