Racist rant trial to begin in January
Just as a fresh wave of accusations of racism broke over Hout Bay security consultant Vanessa Hartley’s Facebook post on Monday, another white woman accused of racism stood in the box yesterday to hear her case was remanded.
Real estate agent Vicki Momberg, pictured, yesterday appeared in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court, with her new attorney Jenna Clark, from Alexandra Justice Centre Legal Aid.
Prosecutor Yusuf Baba promised to make a copy of the docket, videos and audio recordings available to Clark.
The case was remanded to the middle of January next year so Clark could study all the material and take instruction from Momberg. Baba said the case had been delayed for months and warned Clark the next remand would be for trial, whether she was ready or not.
Momberg is accused of crimen injuria when she went on a racist rant in February against black police officers in Northriding, Randburg, following an alleged smash and grab incident.
Someone recorded Momberg on a mobile device railing against black people during a phone call and uploaded the footage to YouTube, from where it went viral and she was eventually arrested in June.
“One k ***** is bad enough. This happens all the time, all the time. The k ***** s here in Johannesburg are terrible, I’m so sick of it,” Momburg is recorded in the video as saying.
“They’re opinionated, they’re arrogant and they’re just plain and simply useless!”
Meanwhile, Hartley has reportedly claimed she left her phone in a bar, which was tampered with without her knowledge.
In November, Cape Town DA Ward 54 councillor Shayne Ramsay said in a Facebook post people living on the streets of Sea Point were “criminals‚ mentally retarded or social outcasts and those who are genuinely down on their luck”.
Former estate agent Penny Sparrow, whose January racist rant about black people on a Durban beach was posted on Facebook, was fined R5 000 by the Scottburgh Magistrate’s Court after she pleaded guilty to a charge of crimen injuria‚ and R150 000 by the Equality Court.