Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Sparrow slapped with R150 000 fine
Theunissen banned from social media
THEY ducked. They dived. But ultimately, yesterday, constitutional democracy flexed its muscle andnd it was a bad day for racists.
Penny Sparrow, whose infamous comments likening black people to monkeys caused a nation- wide uproar, was hit with a R150 000 fine.
A court in Scottburgh directed the money be paid to the Oliver and Adelaide Tambo Foundation to promote nonracialism, tolerance and reconciliation in the country.
Ironically, though, the foundation doesn’t want to accept the “racist money”.
Cape Town resident Matthew Theunissen may not have been handed a monetary punishment, but the SA Human Rights Commissions banned him from social media for a year and ordered him to do community service as well as undergoing anger management therapy.
Sparrow ducked her court appearance yesterday. Her daughter, Charmaine Cowie, cut a forlorn figure as she said her mother was sick, suffering from diabetes.
That didn’t cut much ice with magistrate Irfaan Khallil – presiding in an Equality Court hearing – who described Sparrow’s attitude in not attending court proceedings as “reprehensible”.
Sparrow was described by her daughter as penniless, homeless, very ill, and fearing for her life.
Khallil asked Cowie if she came to court of her own accord.
“No,” replied Cowie, explaining that the investigator in the case advised her to do so, otherwise her mother could have a warrant of arrest issued against her. She said her mother wanted to make an apology for the Facebook post, and then requested a postponement so her mother could decide what to do.
Advocate Denzil Potgieter, from the legal team representing the ANC – which had brought the Equality Court complaint – said he believed Cowie knew where her mother was.
Cowie said: “My mum is retired, is a pensioner, is quite old, is divorced, has no income and is now officially homeless. It’s extremely difficult to bring her forward here. We also want it to end, we don’t want to prolong it.”
Khallil ruled the matter could proceed despite Sparrow’s absence.
He went on to rule that Sparrow was guilty of hate speech, and ordered that she pay R150 000 within 60 days to the Oliver and Adelaide Tambo Foundation.
After the ruling, there were cheers in the gallery.
Super Zuma, ANC provin- cial secretary, said the ruling would “send a strong message to all covert and overt racists that they have no place in the South Africa we are trying to build”.
However, Mavuso Msimang, the chief executive of the Adelaide and Oliver Tambo Foun- dation, said that he doesn’t want to accept Sparrow’s “racist money”.
Theunissen’s case ended up before the SA Human Rights Commission after Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille reported him for comments he made about an announcement by Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula to revoke the rights of Athletics South Africa, Netball South Africa, Cricket South Africa and the South African Rugby Union to host international tournaments for failing to meet transformation targets.
The commission said an order for him to conduct research was for him to “explore, reflect and understand what hate speech and racism are, why hate speech is destructive to South Africa’s transformation process, and how white privilege functions in South African society”.