Sparrow gets more time to pay fine

Retired real estate agent, Penny Sparrow, who sparked public outrage by posting racists comments on Facebook in January last year, has been given two years to pay the R150 000 fine that had been handed down by the Equality Court last year.

Sparrow was ordered to pay the fine to the Oliver and Adelaide Tambo Foundation in June last year after being found guilty of hate speech. 

On Thursday magistrate Irfaan Khallil, at the Scottburgh Magistrate's Court, ruled that payment had been deferred to a period of two years, instead of the initial 60 days, without accruing interest. This was because Sparrow was battling financially.

“The complainant (ANC) will then review the respondent's (Sparrow) ability to make such payment,” said Khallil.

It emerged in court that the ANC had established that Sparrow was unemployed.

In an affidavit, ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe accepted that Sparrow was in a difficult financial position.

“The respondent  has indicated her inability to satisfy the debt. Whilst being mindful of the abhorrent conduct of the respondent‚ we accept her financial position currently is dire.”

In her post, Sparrow had referred to black beachgoers as “monkeys”. The post went viral and led to a public outcry about racism.

Linda Vilakazi, spokesperson for the Oliver and Adelaide Tambo Foundation, said given the detailed account of Sparrow’s reasons for requesting an extension, the foundation accepted the court decision and deemed it fair. 

The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal said it was not concerned about the delay but was satisfied that the sentence imposed was being carried through. 

“We were only going to have a problem if the court had amended the fine, because even that money was not satisfactory to us. 

“We never supported the fine in the form of money; we had argued that this is a person who should not live among people and that she should have been arrested and kept in jail,” ANC provincial spokesperson, Mdumiseni Ntuli said.