/ 5 June 2016

Penny Sparrow to have her day in court

Penny Sparrow To Have Her Day In Court

Embattled estate agent Penny Sparrow will have her day in court this week.

The ANC launched a complaint of hate speech against her in the Equality Court in KwaZulu-Natal in January.

On Sunday, ANC attorney Peter Williams confirmed that the matter would be heard on Friday, June 10, in the Kwa-Zulu-Natal Equality Court.

But so far, Sparrow was still in hiding and had not been heard from, Williams confirmed.

In March, the ANC informed the court that the deputy sheriff had been unable to track her down to serve court documents.

Williams said to News24 at the time that the court had granted an order for documents to be served on Sparrow by way of a “substituted service”.

In January, Sparrow took to social media, where she compared black people to monkeys, causing a national outcry.

In her post Sparrow wrote: “These monkeys that are allowed to be released on New Year’s eve and New Year’s day on to public beaches towns etc obviously have no education what so ever so to allow them loose is inviting huge dirt and troubles and discomfort to others.

“I’m sorry to say that I was amongst the revellers and all I saw were black on black skins what a shame. I do know some wonderful and thoughtful black people. This lot of monkeys just don’t want to even try. But think they can voice opinions and get their way of dear,” she said.

“From now on I shall address the blacks of South Africa as monkeys as I see the cute little wild monkeys do the same, pick and drop litter,” Sparrow added.

Read more:
Penny Sparrow: Can racism be outlawed in South Africa?
Hate speech, hurtful speech, Chris Hart and Penny Sparrow

The ANC wants the court to find that her utterances are racist and constitute hate speech.

The party also wants her to pay R200 000 as compensation to an organisation which promoted non-racism, tolerance and reconciliation.

In a founding affidavit, ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said there had recently been a dramatic increase in incidents of open racism and hate speech. – News24

Image credit: C_osett – Flickr/Creative Commons