Durban - The 26-year-old who was thrown off a Kulula flight for using the K-word to refer to two fellow passengers and a flight captain has apologised to South Africans saying that at the time she did not truly understand how hurtful the word is.
On Tuesday morning, Alochna Moodley met with Reverend Solomuzi Mabuza, one of the men at whom the racial slur was directed, in a meeting held at the home of Bishop Rubin Phillip.
Mabuza is one of the two passengers who were seated on either side of Moodley on that flight. He had spotted the text message in which Moodley allegedly told her boyfriend that she was seated in between two k***rs.
She had allegedly complained that one of the men was reeking of alcohol and that the other one kept on sniffing.
In the text she had also referred to the captain of the flight as a k****r.
Speaking at the meeting Moodley said she had waited for the uproar over her conduct to die down before she could make the apology.
“Dont judge me too harshly as my ignorance of the use of the dreadful word has caused me much misery these past few days.”
Moodley, who was accompanied by her father said the k-word has never been used in her home.
“My school curriculum did not teach me the atrocities of apartheid. Any mention of it was in passing without the details of the oppression especially of black people,” she said.
Saying she now fully understood and appreciated the gravity of her deed she said she was now appalled by the use of the word and stated that there can be no excuse for the use of the word.
“There can be no justification for using such words. I can only attribute it to my ignorance and lack of appreciation for my fellow South Africans who have endured such oppression for such a long time. The loss of my job has been a further blow to me in addition to the hate and racial uproar that I have endured. Believe me I have been punished”.
Mabuza kept pleading with Moodley to make a full disclosure and to be truthful about everything.
Mabuza who laid crimen injuria charges against Moodley said he would let that process continue.