An attempt was made to run over six men as they were walking home from synagogue in a suburb of Johannesburg last month.

In the incident, which was reported last week, a vehicle with four occupants drove past the men, with the driver making offensive hand gestures and shouting "F---ing Jews".

A few minutes later, the vehicle returned and swerved lanes, threatening to knock the men over.

The six men were described as "identifiably Jewish".

David Saks, associate director of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies, told JTA that "antisemitic verbal abuse in South Africa commonly takes the form of people shouting obscenities ... additional acts of intimidation, however, are unusual".