[Image: Zanzou / Facebook]
South Africans are baying for blood after horrific videos from 2023 surfaced allegedly showing people being tortured inside the Zanzou Lounge in Pretoria, Gauteng.
The graphic video clips have now gone viral and show men tied up while being sexually tortured and waterboarded.
IOL reported the three men were allegedly tortured by the club’s bouncers and police have now launched a manhunt for eight foreign nationals who are the alleged perpetrators in the incident. The men are being sought for charges ranging from compelled rape, assault and crimen injuria, to intimidation and kidnapping.
Following a call by police for victims to come forward, only three victims aged 20, 21 and 22 came forward at the Brooklyn police station in Pretoria on Monday evening.
National police spokesperson, Brigadier Athlenda Mathe told media “The bouncers and manager allegedly forced the five victims into a store room and began assaulting them, instructed them to insert alcohol bottles into their private parts and forced them to perform sexual acts on themselves.”
The victims allege that the incident happened in January 2023 after a dispute arose between the five friends, bouncers and a manager at the nightclub.
The videos have caused outrage, and people are demanding justice.
Nothing will ever justify those Zanzou videos.. so inhumane, disgusting! Arrest all of them and close it down!
— Vince
(@sibsvin) February 17, 2025
A guy from Zanzou, suffering from toxic sexual desires with men, decided to experience these desires violently masquerading as a punishment. That was sexual violence that cannot be characterised as anything than what it is! This is sick! https://t.co/60XrYraBLa
— | M M A M A K W A| (@That_TT_) February 17, 2025
Everyone from the EFF to The Restaurants Association of South Africa and Human Rights Watch has now joined the chorus to find the perpetrators and bring them to book.
Wendy Alberts, chief executive officer of the Restaurants Association of South Africa (RASA) said her decades of involvement in the sector, she had “not seen anything close to the alleged torture unleashed at the Zanzou nightclub”.
“I cannot comprehend that there are people that could cross the line so dramatically and it is so devastating that these young kids have been exposed to this type of torture. It is just not acceptable on any level.”
The videos were allegedly leaked by a former bouncer at the club who goes by the name of Pablo. He posted a video to his Tiktok page under the username @pabloizi0, and claimed that he was with Zanzou for seven years and allegedly witnessed a lot of torture and abuse suffered by several victims.He also claims to have more than 75 videos that he plans to release in the next few days.
“I know right now those people are looking for me, they promised to kill me, the promised to do some bad things to me but you guys must know that I will do what is right…I’m going to expose all the sh***t.”
‘Pablo’ also claimed that the people from the nightclub were in cahoots with police and whenever an assault was lodged, the “case would be destroyed”.
“Those people [work] with police, Sunnyside, Brooklyn, all the police are under them, they pay the supervisor and when you open a case against Zanzou, they will delete the case.”
Zanzou has released a statement in response to the videos on their socials, stating “At the time when management became aware of these practices, an immediate investigation was conducted that resulted in the immediate halting of such and the dismissal of security personnel responsible for the perpetration thereof”.
This is horrible. The Pretoria nightclub scene is going to come under a lot of scrutiny over these barbaric ‘practices, which may be a good thing for patrons.
[Source: IOL]
