Racial slur lands South African woman in prison

A South African court has issued the first prison sentence for a racist insult, showing the divide that still exists in the country almost a quarter of a century since the end of apartheid.

A Johannesburg court found estate agent Vicki Momberg guilty of crimen injuria, or wilful injury to a person’s dignity, after she was videotaped in 2016 yelling racist abuse at a black policeman.

At the time, Momberg had been the victim of theft and vented her frustration on the unsuspecting officer who tried to help her.

She used apartheid-era racial slurs such as “kaffir”, one of the worst terms of hate speech in South Africa. The video went viral and Momberg was arrested and put on trial. She was sentenced on Wednesday to an effective two years in prison.

“Welcome to a new South Africa, where racists are jailed,” musician and celebrity Jay Monokoane tweeted. “The sooner we jail them, the better.”

Politicians are reviewing a proposed hate speech bill that would criminalise prejudice involving race, gender, HIV status and nationality, among others.

As things stand, the country’s constitution provides broad guarantees for free speech.

But high-profile racist incidents, usually fuelled by social media, have led to demands for stronger reactions from the authorities. Michael Morris, spokesman for the Institute for Race Relations in Johannesburg, said more legal action is likely to follow.

“As far as we can determine, this is the harshest sentence a court has handed down for such behaviour and whatever people feel about it, it sends a clear message,” Mr Morris said.

Although racist incidents tend to gather a lot of media attention, the institute’s data suggests that people of different races co-exist peacefully in South Africa.

In its research, 77 per cent of black respondents said they had never personally experienced racism. Ninety-two per cent of all South Africans, and 90 per cent of black respondents, agreed that “different races need each other for progress and there should be full opportunity for people of all races”, Mr Morris said.

But South Africa’s political atmosphere is likely to give way to more prosecutions.

“South Africa might witness several such cases before the courts, and an increasing number of people across the political spectrum being jailed,” Mr Morris said.

Census figures show the country has 43 million black people and 4.5m white people. With elections a little more than a year away, racist speech and “identity politics” are set to increase, Mr Morris said.

For some, Momberg’s conviction illustrates the inconsistent approach to racism.

“The inconsistency being applied in this country regarding minorities has reached the level of absurdity,” said Ernst Roets, deputy chief executive of AfriForum, an organisation most closely associated with white Afrikaner nationalism.

He referred to alarming incidents such as opposition politician Julius Malema, who has said: “Indian people are worse than Afrikaners”, and “we are not calling for the slaughtering of white people, at least for now”. AfriForum has tried to prosecute Mr Malema and others for such statements, with little result. More than 112 charges were laid in the past year but none have yet gone to court.

However, with one successful prosecution, authorities may now feel the pressure to show they will treat such cases equally, regardless of race.

Momberg’s prosecutor, Yusuf Baba, hinted as much after the sentence was passed.

“It is time a loud message is sent to every race‚ every person in the country,” Mr Baba said.

‘Identity politics’ will probably increase as elections move closer, despite research showing peaceful co-existence