African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) president Julius Malema now has until Monday to pay the R50 000 fine ordered by the Equality Court, a spokesperson for the group that took Malema to court said on Friday.
Mbuyiselo Botha, of the Sonke Gender Justice Network, said the sheriff of the court had indicated that a planned seizure of Malema assets would not take place on Friday.
“Our lawyers, together with the sheriff, have decided that they will only be able to execute it on Monday morning,” he said. “That will give them a chance until Monday if they want to pay the fine, or apologise.”
Malema was found guilty of hate speech and harassment by the court in March over 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.
He lodged an appeal against the order but the time period in which the appeal had to be “prosecuted” lapsed on July 14, said Sonke.
“While under oath, Malema said he would abide by any ruling given by the Equality Court. As the time for appealing has passed, Malema now needs to make good on the ruling and his word,” said Botha.
He said a writ of execution had been issued by the sheriff for attachment of R50 000-worth of Malema’s property.
Further action
Sonke was prepared to take further action if he failed to apologise.
Youth League spokesperson Floyd Shivambu referred the South African Press Association to Malema’s lawyer, who was not immediately available for comment.
Sonke’s complaint came after Malema’s statement at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology on January 22 2009.
He said of women making accusations of rape that “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”.
This was seen as a reference to the woman who had accused President Zuma of rape. Zuma was acquitted but the organisation was concerned about the stereotypes around women who say they have been raped.
During the hearing, Malema called Sonke “Mickey Mouses” funded by white people. — Sapa