Ngwenya used the k-word against Investec’s CEO, Fani Titi. Ngwenya and Titi had fallen out over a dispute concerning R52 million in a business deal that had allegedly gone sour.
The suspension is on condition that Ngwenya is not found guilty of crimen injuria during that period.
He was sentenced in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court on Thursday after having been previously found guilty of crimen injuria and acquitted of two counts relating to harassment and the contravention of a protection order in August last year.
Ngwenya was found guilty of crimen injuria last year. He was accused of calling his long-time friend Fani Titi a “QwaQwa k****r” and “Bantustan boss” in a text message. The message was intended for Aqeel Patel, the MD of MRC Media.
He was acquitted on the two counts of contravening protection orders. In the same text message, Ngwenya told Patel “you will bleed” and that Titi “will see his mother”.
Titi regarded this as a threat to his life as Ngwenya knew his mother had died. The conflict between Ngwenya and Titi, who had been friends for 20 years, stemmed from a multimillion-rand deal that turned sour.
Ngwenya argued through his lawyers that the k-word only became offensive when it was used by a white person to a black person. But magistrate Pravina Raghoonandan said Ngwenya had a history of contributing to the struggle against apartheid. Therefore, she said, he should have known that the use of the k-word amounted to hate speech and would impair Titi’s dignity.
Ngwenya spent five years on Robben Island during apartheid.
“During the conviction stage, senior public prosecutor Yusuf Baba argued that the use of the k-word is derogatory and that the race of the person using it or the person it is used against, was insignificant,” Gauteng National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Phindi Mjonondwane said in a statement on Thursday.
In her judgment, Magistrate Pravina Raghoonandan found the use of the k-word “is not part of the culture”.
“It cannot be accepted that it is part of the culture, irrespective of race,” she previously said.
Mjonondwane said she would verify if this was the first case of a black person being convicted and sentenced for using the k-word.
“If indeed it is the first judgment of the court, it shows to say that the use of the k-word cannot be tolerated regardless of the race of the person using it,” she said.
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