The law is still too soft on racists

ON FRIDAY, two courts handed down sentences on separate matters that both relate to racism.

The first matter is that of Adam Catzavelos, 41, who shot to infamy in 2018 when he recorded himself, unprovoked, on holiday in a beach in Greece expressing his delight at not seeing a single k ***** around.

The EFF opened a crimen injuria case against Catzavelos shortly after his video went viral on social media. Two days ago, the Randburg Magistrate’s Court fined him

R50 000, with his two-year sentence suspended wholly for five years.

On a second matter, Joburg High Court judges Thifhelimbilu Mudau and Greg Wright upheld a six-month sentence against Marie Basson, 41, for calling Nomsa Masuku a “k ***** bitch”. Basson and Masuku had an altercation at a supermarket on the East Rand. Her appeal against the six-month sentence that was handed down by the Kempton Park Magistrate Court was dismissed.

The only reason we now know Catzavelos and Basson by name is that convictions for such incidents are rare. Incidents of racism, on the other hand, are prevalent.

Not enough has been done by our criminal justice system to attend to the glaring gap between racial incidents and convictions. There have been growing calls to criminalise racism, but for every Catzavelos, Basson, the late racist estate agent Penny Sparrow, and Vicki Momberg, there are thousands of defenders and secret admirers of their actions and utterances.

This week the SA Hindu Dharma Sabha lodged a complaint with the SA Human Rights Commission after a Kwazulu-natal teacher claimed that Satan was Indian in a Facebook post written in Zulu.

There is still a lot of ground to be covered by South Africa to reach racial harmony. Most of these incidents stem from an unwillingness to accept and respect those that don’t look and sound like us.

There have been many attempts to deepen social cohesion. There are many avenues for those who are willing to change.

For those who relentlessly fan the flames of racial hostility, there should be heavy fines or lengthy jail sentences.

Preferably both.