Adam ‘Mxolisi’ Catzavelos’ gogos and umkhulus say he’s a changed man

Convicted racist Adam Catzavelos has been given a new name by a group of Orlando women with whom he has been spending time: Mxolisi.

“It means forgiveness,” Paulina Thithi said on Thursday, “We forgive him”.

The 80-year-old was speaking on the sidelines of the Randburg Magistrate’s Court, where Catzavelos on Thursday appeared for sentencing proceedings in his crimen injuria case to get underway.

Thithi and several others from the community were in the gallery to support Catzavelos.

“Adam is a good guy. He came to us and apologised,” she said, “And I forgive him”.

A Johannesburg businessman and father, Catzavelos found himself on the receiving end of the nation’s ire in 2018, after saying there wasn’t “a k****** in sight” in a video clip he filmed while on holiday on a Greek beach and which went viral on social media.

Last December, Catzavelos pleaded guilty to the criminal charges that were subsequently levelled against him by the EFF in Gauteng.

Catzavelos issued a statement in the immediate aftermath of the video’s surfacing, in which he apologised for the video and said he had been “thoughtless and insensitive”.

In his plea, he admitted to having used the k-word and said he was under the influence at the time. He also pointed to having been the victim of various criminal incidents in which the perpetrators were black people.

On Thursday, Catzavelos took the stand in mitigation of sentencing and again apologised, pleading with South Africans “not to to judge me on a 22-second video and to look at my actions now”.

In addition to being hauled before the criminal court for his utterance, Catzavelos was at one stage also before the Equality Court on a hate speech complaint – which was brought against him by the South African Human Rights Commission. Last August, though, that case was settled with Catzavelos agreeing to community service and a fine of R150 000.

The court heard on Thursday that he had been doing his community service under the guidance of struggle activist Seth Mazibuko and that the proceeds of his fine, which he is paying in monthly R5000 instalments, were going to the Seth Mazibuko Legacy Foundation.

Thithi and her peers who were on Thursday at court, are part of the community that the organisation serves.

In the box, Catzavelos told the court he had at first been “very anxious” about meeting with this community.

“But I’ve had nothing but love and acceptance,” he said.

He repeatedly referred to the men and women with whom he had been engaging in his community service, as his “gogos” and “umkhulus” (isiZulu for “grandmothers” and “grandfathers”) and said that through this work, he had become a changed man.

Adam Catzavelos sits with his Gogos from Orlando where he does community service during a break in preceedings. They have given him the name Mxolisi because he has apologised for his remarks at the Randburg Magistrates Court, 13 February 2020. Picture Neil McCartney

“If I look back, I don’t regret what I did in the sense that I’ve become a better person through what I’ve been through,” he said.

He said, though, that he did regret hurting people.

Mazibuko, who himself took the stand for the defence on Thursday, said Catzavelos was “in the process” of learning his lesson. He believed jail time would serve no purpose and that he would instead like to continue use Catzavelos to further social cohesion causes.

But the EFF’s chairperson in Gauteng, Mandisa Mashego – who is the complainant in this case – labelled Catzavelos’ remorse “insincere” and said he deserved nothing less than ten years behind bars.

She gave evidence in aggravation of sentencing and said she “personally felt humiliated” by Catzavelos’ use of the k-word.

She said the word was intended to “dehumanise and belittle”.

“It’s an extension of all forms of oppression,” Mashego said, “I think it’s very clear that the use of the word … was to make himself feel better about his white supremacy”.

Catzavelos’ lawyer, Lawley Shain, has asked the court “not to double punish” his client and to hand down a suspended sentence or fine.

The State has left it in the hands of the court.

Sentencing is expected later this month.

Catzavelos is also understood to be facing charges in Greece, where the video was filmed. Shain said on Thursday that he was not aware of the current status of that case but that it could proceed in absentia.

Catzavelos on Thursday declined an interview request but on the subject of who had publicly shared the video – which was initially sent to a closed WhatsApp group – Shain said his client had never even tried to find this out.

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