Jailed for Racism2 min read

A white South African woman has been the first to be sent to prison for verbal racist abuse towards two black police officers.

After thieves broke into Vicki Momberg’s car, the former estate agent reported the crime and the two black police officers came to assist, so it should have ended there.

But instead unprovoked Vicki Momberg, used a highly offensive term towards black people, “kaffir” 48 times and she only wanted help from white or Indian officers. She referred black people as “plain and simple useless” and “they are clueless”.

Fortunately, the incident was captured on video and the judge sentence Vicki Momberg to 3 years in prison.

Some of you may think, this is freedom of speech and Vicki Momberg is entitled to voice her own opinions and this sentence is too harsh but remember, South Africa experienced decades of apartheid where the government systematically favoured non-black South Africans which was globally condemned.

24 years ago, Nelson Mandela became the first black President ending the decades of hardship and struggle for the black community. Instead of punishing white people across the country, Nelson Mandela began the process of reconciliation and peace between all races in the divided country.

One of the conditions was to overcome this sense of entitlement held by everyone where the white person is no better than the black person or the black person is no better than the white person.

Therefore, when Vicki Momberg used this racial slur in her fit anger, this brought back many people’s memories of the pain and misery of the apartheid period.

In light of the Australian senator who said white South Africans are being persecuted by the government, most of the wealth generated in the country is held by white

South Africans who represent only 8% of the population. This shows South Africa needs more time to overcome the racial and economic inequalities.

So in closing, the lesson is to not be racist.