Durban - Oliver and Adelaide Tambo Foundation chief executive Mavuso Msimang said he found disgraced KZN estate agent Penny Sparrow’s recent comments “very strange” and that she had shown no remorse or contrition for the racist statement which resulted in her being fined R150 000 by the Equality Court.
Sparrow got into trouble in January for a Facebook post about the littering on the beaches at Scottburgh, in which she compared black beachgoers to monkeys.
Last week she was handed a R150 000 fine by the Umzinto Equality Court, but this week was reported to have said that “monkeys are cute” and that she was poor and could not afford to pay the fine. The court ordered she pay the money to the Oliver and Adelaide Tambo Foundation.
Sparrow, who did not appear in court but was represented by her daughter, said she didn’t mean to insult anyone and had issued “a raft of apologies”.
Msimang said the foundation was pleased about the fine, but would meet on Saturday to decide whether it would accept the money.
“Personally I find her (recent) behaviour very strange. She shows no remorse, no contrition for the words that she had uttered and that they were racist,” said Msimang.
Sympathisers organised two online crowdfunding efforts to help Sparrow pay, but they fell flat.
Sparrow is now left to pay off the fine, as ordered by the court, by the first week of August.
“Those who contributed to those efforts were not trying to help her; what they were saying was that they were in agreement with her racist attitude,” said Msimang
He said with South Africa commemorating 40 years since students in Soweto and around South Africa stood up against apartheid, it was frustrating that characters like Sparrow were still around and got support from sections of society.
“We have a long way to go. Government often talks about social cohesion, but there’s a need for leaders to work very hard to make this a reality,” said Msimang.
The Mercury