Penny Sparrow back in court

20 July 2016

Durban – Controversial KwaZulu-Natal realtor Penny Sparrow appeared at the Scottsburgh Magistrate's Court in Umzinto on Wednesday on charges of crimen injuria, the KwaZulu-Natal National Prosecuting Authority said.

NPA spokesperson Natasha Kara said the matter was postponed to August 18 and Sparrow, who was present, was not asked to plead.

Last month, the Umzinto Equality Court ordered Sparrow to pay R150 000 to the Oliver and Adelaide Tambo Foundation for her racist Facebook rant.

The ANC took Sparrow to court in January after she referred to black beachgoers as monkeys on Facebook.

In an interview with News24, Sparrow explained that "monkey" was used as a term of endearment by white people.

Sparrow, who had been in hiding at the time, broke down as she revealed that she had received threats after her comments.

"The threats were terrible... my phone was so busy that I couldn't dial out. There were terrible death threats. People said they were going to bomb my house and people sent pictures of naked women and saying I was going to be raped... it was shocking," she said.

Several South Africans have landed themselves in hot water for racist comments they made on social networks. They include Vicki Momberg, Capetonian Matthew Theunissen, Standard Bank’s Chris Hart and government official Velaphi Khumalo.

This article first appeared on News24, see here.