African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) president Julius Malema’s attorneys have applied for a condonation order after he failed to pay a R50 000 fine, his lawyer said on Friday.
“We have applied for the order, but we still don’t have records of the proceedings from the Equality Court,” Tumi Mokwena said.
“We are appealing to a higher court now and before they can make a decision on the condonation order they need the records,” he said.
The order would ask the court to condone, or forgive the fact that Malema hadn’t paid his fine, but he would have to give good reasons.
In March the Equality Court found Malema guilty of hate speech and harassment, after the Sonke Gender Justice Network brought a case against him following comments he made about President Jacob Zuma’s rape accuser.
He was fined R50 000 to be paid to a women’s rights organisation within a month, and ordered to apologise publicly within two weeks of the ruling.
The comments that took the matter to court were: “When a woman didn’t enjoy it, she leaves early in the morning. Those who had a nice time will wait until the sun comes out, request breakfast and ask for taxi money.”
The sheriff of the court visited the ANCYL leader’s Sandton home earlier this week to make a list of his assets to be attached, after he failed to pay the fine.
Sonke was not immediately available for comment. — Sapa