House arrest for activist Jack who defamed Trollip
Mother of five showed no remorse during the court process
Nontuthuzelo Jack, a former DA activist who lied about Athol Trollip bribing her, will spend the next three years under house arrest, the Port Elizabeth magistrate court ruled on Thursday.
Magistrate Pumela Sibiya, who said Jack was not remorseful throughout the court proceedings, sentenced her to three years imprisonment suspended for five years for crimen injuria and criminal defamation.
In addition, she was sentenced to two years imprisonment suspended for five years for lying under oath.
Jack will be under house arrest for the duration of the three years and she has been ordered to do community service, including cleaning the Motherwell Police Station.
In September, the court found Jack had purposely made a false statement to the police that former Nelson Mandela Bay mayor, Trollip, tried to bribe her to dig up dirt on former DA provincial chair Veliswa Mvenya in the lead-up to the 2016 municipal elections.
While magistrate Sibiya branded Jack, 50, unremorseful, she felt that a more appropriate sentence for the unemployed, single mother of five was community service while in the company of her children.
“This sentence cannot be regarded as light because this person is going to be restricted in her movement and subjected to monitoring and control by correctional services,” Sibiya said.
Jack’s house arrest starts on December 3.
Jack has a previous conviction from 1996 of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, but when Sibiya made her ruling she said Jack’s previous conviction had no bearing on the judgment.
Trollip said he was satisfied the court had attached a consequence to those who sought to smear or defame anyone.
Though he was pleased with the outcome he said he was not thrilled about the fact that Jack’s “collaborators or political puppet masters have not been exposed and held to account”.
“This sentence will, however, serve as a warning to future or potential political pawns.
“It will inevitably be them and not the masterminds that are held to account – they will have to bear the brunt of the court’s decisions,” Trollip said.
Jack, who appeared unaffected by the ruling – and even smirked at Trollip after the sentence was handed down – declined to comment.
This sentence cannot be regarded as light because this person is going to be restricted in her movement