Last Friday it was Penny Sparrow and her absence at KZN’s Umzinto Equality Court that grabbed headlines (HERE), the infamous former realtor ordered to pay R150 000 to the Oliver and Adelaide Thambo for her racist comments.

It was also a big day for Capetonian Matthew Theunissen, the ‘brains’ behind THAT infamous rant back in May. Rather than pay a fine, Matthew will perform community service in a poor, disadvantaged area for between three to six months.

This from TimesLive:

This is part of a settlement reached with the South African Human Rights Commission‚ which was asked to investigate him for hate speech…

Theunissen responded immediately to attempts by the commission to contact him.

“Prior to meeting with the Commission he issued a public apology. Following an initial meeting with Theunissen an additional statement and unconditional apology was tendered to the SAHRC’s request for his response to the allegations‚” the commission said in a statement on Friday

“The parties agreed to convene a conciliation meeting that was held on Tuesday 7 June‚ where Theunissen offered additional assurances and agreed to particular remedial conduct in response to his offence. These were recorded … in a settlement agreement.

“As part of the settlement‚ beyond the unconditional apology‚ which the Commission deemed acceptable and sincere‚ the parties agreed that Theunissen would embark on community service for a period of 3 to 6 months in a currently poor disadvantaged area of Cape Town Metropole in the area of sports development‚” said the commission.

This was meant to sensitise Theunissen to the “need for transformation and challenges facing poor disadvantaged communities in Cape Town”.

That’s not all though, because he will also enjoy a few extra corrective measures:

Theunissen will also undergo anger management therapy and has agreed not to “publish or communicate any further discriminatory or hurtful language‚ and will refrain from engaging on any social network platform for 12-months while undergoing rehabilitation”.

If only we could enforce similar social media ‘time outs’ for serial posters of garbage.

Matthew will report back to the commission after three months, at which point they will decide as to how much longer his service will continue.

[source:timeslive]