Update: Penny Sparrow saga continues, ANC to protest outside court
Sparrow has claimed she is unable to find a job and has no means of paying the fine.
Penny Sparrow, who learned the hard way that you can’t say what you like and be racist on social media. Picture: Juan Venter
Penny Sparrow’s 150-day window period in which to pay the R150 000 fine is over, and now the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal, it seems, is determined to make sure she honours that commitment, South Coast Herald reports.
Last night (Wednesday) the party released a statement saying it would be demanding that the court uphold its judgment.
Sparrow failed to appeal the R150 000 fine issued by Magistrate Irfaan Khallil in the Scottburgh Magistrates’ Court on November 3, 2016.
Members of the ANC will reportedly be protesting outside the court today.
The R150 000 fine was to be paid to the Oliver Adelaide Tambo Foundation, but as previously reported, the foundation had refused to accept the money, with chief executive Mavuso Msimang describing it as “racist money”.
In an earlier interview, Sparrow claimed she was unable to find a job and had no means of paying the fine, and as a pensioner she said she barely had enough money for day-to-day expenses.
During her September 12 appearance, she tendered an apology that would later be graciously accepted by the ANC.
READ MORE: Former St John’s ‘racist teacher’ says he was ‘just joking’
“I realise what I did was wrong,” said a tearful Sparrow, adding that: “It is difficult to put into words the regret that I feel. I will from now on strive to be a better citizen. Respecting others and working towards making our country a better place to live in.”
She was also sentenced to a period of two years’ imprisonment, which was suspended for five years, and declared unfit to possess a firearm.
Super Zuma, the African National Congress’s provincial secretary, confirmed they were pleased with the ruling.
“As the ANC, we are really satisfied. The law has taken its course, and we accept her apology.”
Zuma – at the time – added he hoped this would “serve as a lesson to all others who utter racist comments”.
Initially on November 4, 2016, Penny Sparrow was ordered to pay the R150 000 fine issued by Magistrate Irfaan Khallil in the Scottburgh Magistrates’ Court after a brief appearance in the Equality Court on Thursday, November 3.
Sparrow was to pay an additional R5 000 as a result of her racist slurs on the social media platform, Facebook.
Under advise by ANC legal representative Peter Williams, Sparrow had opted to withdraw her motion to appeal the fine, according to her daughter, Charmaine Cowie.
Her daughter, Cowie, who also represented her in the magistrates’ court, made it known to the court they did not have the money Sparrow had to pay. She added Sparrow’s former Legal Aid South Africa representative, Elaine MacDonald, had opted not to represent her in court.
“They don’t want to represent her because they felt that she could not win the case,” her daughter said.
READ MORE
https://www.citizen.co.za/news/south-africa/fired-st-johns-racist-teacher-said-he-was-just-joking/
– Caxton News Service
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