Facebook comment on beach crowds slammed as racist

THE SA National Civic Organisation (Sanco) wants the human rights commission to investigate alleged racist comments posted by a Sandton man on a picture of a packed Durban beachfront over the weekend.

There was outrage after Ben Sasonof posted on Facebook: “Eh eh Wena . . . must have smelt like the inside of Zuma’s a**hole‚” an apparent reference to President Jacob Zuma.

Sanco’s Jabu Mahlangu said yesterday: “We condemn in the strongest terms possible the alleged provocative insults which seek to rekindle racial hatred and polarise racial relations in our society.”

He also called for criminal charges against Sasonof.

“Vitriolic and barbaric comments of this nature have no place in the united‚ nonracial‚ non-sexist‚ equal‚ prosperous and democratic society we are striving to build‚” Mahlangu said.

He said comments like Sasonof’s reflected private conversations that were still taking place among those who were missing “pigmentocracy‚ apartheid white privilege‚ domination” and beaches exclusively for whites.

News 24 reported on Sunday that Sasonof had said of his post: “At no point was I racist.”

His comments come less than a year after retired South Coast estate agent Penny Sparrow caused widespread outrage when she compared black people on beaches to monkeys.

By last week, Sparrow, 69, had still not paid the courtordered fines for her racist rant. She had been ordered by the Umzinto Equality Court in June to pay R150 000 to the Oliver and Adelaide Tambo Foundation after being found guilty of hate speech.

Magistrate Irfaan Khalil said the amount had to be paid within 60 days and he interdicted Sparrow from further hate speech.

However, the foundation said on Thursday it had not received payment from her.

In September‚ Sparrow appeared before magistrate Vincent Hlatshwayo in the Scottburgh Magistrate’s Court‚ where she pleaded guilty to a charge of crimen injuria.

She was fined R5 000 (or 12 months), in addition to two years’ imprisonment suspended for five years.

She also had to tender a public and Facebook apology for her offending January post. – TMG Digital