Lawyer denies ‘monkey’ slur

RADOVAN Krejcir’s former lawyer, advocate Annelene van den Heever, has been accused of pulling a Penny Sparrow by allegedly referring to members of a security team as monkeys.

Randfontein police spokeswoman Captain Appel Ernst confirmed that a docket of intimidation has been opened against Van den Heever by a police officer after the incident which allegedly took place at the Kagiso Regional Court.

The security team involved are tactical response team officers monitoring each of Krejcir’s criminal court proceedings, and were attending to a related case at the court last Monday.

Van den Heever was representing an accused at the court who was guarded by the team that day.

According to multiple sources linked to the Krejcir investigation, when she and relatives of the accused were asked to remain outside the courtroom until proceedings were ready to begin, the advocate refused to comply, which led to a verbal altercation.

After eventually making her way into the court, Van den Heever was then allegedly heard by court officials referring to members of the security team as “these monkeys”.

In January, real estate agent Penny Sparrow became infamous for using the same term on social media to refer to black people, and was fined R150 000 by the Equality Court.

While some members of the team confronted Van den Heever about the alleged use of the slur on the day, it was only two days later that the case was opened at Kagiso police station.

The case remains under investigation, and has yet to be forwarded to the National Prosecuting Authority.

But Van den Heever has vehemently denied the allegations and accused the security team of sexism, racism and trying to prevent her from doing her job.

In a six-page memorandum, Van den Heever said she was accosted by the “aggressive” task team members, which she claimed had also happened in the past, but at no point had she used the term “monkey”.

Other court officials would corroborate her version.