The colourful leader of the National People’s Party, Badih Chaaban, was fined R5 000 on Thursday for assaulting the party’s former national organiser with a coffee cup.
Cape Town magistrate Menze Tyulu, who added a conditionally suspended six months in jail to the sentence, said the offence — assault with intent to commit grievous bodily harm — was ”very, very serious”.
”You need some rehabilitation. You can’t control your anger,” he told the 49-year-old politician.
However, he acquitted Chaaban on counts of crimen injuria against the organiser, John van der Merwe, and another former senior party member, David Sasman.
Chaaban was also cleared of a common assault charge, which allegedly involved throwing papers at Sasman, at the close of the state’s case.
Chaaban, who stood with his hands in his pockets as Tyulu delivered his judgement, was recently elected mayor of the Cape’s Winelands district municipality after a deal with the African National Congress.
He was previously a member of the Cape Town city council, where he was accused of offering bribes to councillors to cross the floor.
Tyulu said Van der Merwe had testified that he and Sasman went to Chaaban’s Hout Bay home on the morning of September 17 2007.
They had wanted to discuss their unhappiness with changes to the party’s constitution .
Instead, Van der Merwe had said, Chaaban lost his temper, insulted them by calling them dogs and bastards, and threw a cup at him, hitting him on the forehead and making him bleed.
Tyulu said that after the incident, Chaaban had not said sorry or made any attempt to attend to the wounded Van der Merwe.
The injury had been on a ”very delicate part of his body”, and Van der Merwe was now scarred for life.
Immediately after the sentencing, Chaaban, who earns R28 000 a month after deductions in his mayoral job, pulled out a roll of banknotes and was taken off to pay his fine.
His attorney, Cornel Stander, said outside the courtroom that he and Chaaban were satisfied with the acquittal on three of the four charges.
”We’re obviously not satisfied with the fact that he was convicted on the remaining count,” he said.
”We will request a transcript of the judgement and made a decision on an appeal.” — Sapa