Cape Town - South Africa's main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA) has welcomed the sentencing of convicted racist Vicki Momberg to three-year imprisonment, but the sentence has left social media divided.
Vicki Momberg was sentenced to three years behind bars with one year suspended by the Randburg Magistrates Court on Wednesday.
"Respect for one another is sacrosanct, we are all human beings," said Magistrate Pravina Raghoonandan, while handing over her sentence.
Social media was ablaze with reactions to the sentencing. Some slammed the ruling, arguing that it was too lenient while others believed it to be harsh.
The one genuine question right now we should ask ourselves is what precedence does this ruling set? There's a thin line between hate and free speech, and if we try to restrict either, a terrible suppression will arrise, and worse is racists become more emboldened #VickiMomberg
— Njinga Mbande (@Theodore_Canton) March 28, 2018
Dear racists... you'll be humbled hey #VickiMomberg
— Lee (@1_LadyLee) March 28, 2018
Why fill our jails and burden our state with every racist doos in SA, leaving no space for child rapists, brutal murderers, gang leaders and drug dealers? #VickiMomberg might be a truly vile human but surely there have to be better ways of punishing insidious idiots like her?
— The Artful Pea (@theartfulpea) March 28, 2018
When a racist get what she deserves pic.twitter.com/b6doqofgL8
— Sibusiso and 700 others (@makoyaSbu) March 28, 2018
Please tell me how people in SA should feel about people like this receiving no censure, while #VickiMomberg receives two years in jail?
Equality before law? Or is Zuma just the tip of the legal inequality SA is slowly drowning in? pic.twitter.com/jZ0pl8kL4p
— Conner Cerned Citzen (@seeTheANC) March 28, 2018
#VickiMomberg3 years is small . She should've gotten 10 years .
— psychedelics (@makukejaks) March 28, 2018
The double standards in this country is just disgusting. @Julius_S_Malema, you must sit in that same jail with your remarks to white people. This country is a joke #VickiMomberg
— Calvin Petersen (@calvin_calvyn) March 28, 2018
I hope she appeals this ridiculous sentence.
— Justice4All (@Unathi_Kwaza) March 28, 2018
#VickiMomberg recieved an unjust draconian 2 yr sentence for freedom of speech.
If Vicki Momberg was African American & she called a white police officer a "cracker" or "honky" she would of never got criminally charged.
— Jonathan Lee Riches (@xxxlawsuitxxx) March 28, 2018
There are serious double standards in #SouthAfrica, black people can say whatever they like about white people without punishment. Although I don't support what #VickiMomberg said, why is she punished unequally to people of other races saying these things to and about whites?
— Ian Cameron (@IanCameron23) March 28, 2018