Publish date | 24 May 2019 |
Issue Number | 1783 |
Diary | Legalbrief eLaw |
The dignity of Investec chairperson Fana Titi was not ‘impaired’ when businessman Peter-Paul Ngwenya called him a QwaQwa kaffir in an SMS, the Randburg Magistrate's Court heard. According to a News24 report, Ngwenya’s lawyer, Nqabayethu Buthelezi, said during his closing arguments: ‘There is no truth to the allegations that Titi's dignity was impaired in law. He (Titi) can't claim that the word is racially abusing him,’ he added. Buthelezi argued that the K-word was only offensive when a white person used it against a black person. The text message which Ngwenya sent to Titi was apparently intended for Titi's business partner, Aqueel Patel. Ngwenya, who spent almost five years on Robben Island during apartheid, is facing charges of contravention of a harassment order and crimen injuria. Buthelezi argued that Titi never opened a crimen injuria case against the accused. As previously reported in Legalbrief Today, Ngwenya had said Titi owed him almost R54m. The conflict ultimately resulted in Ngwenya not only calling Titi a ‘QwaQwa kaffir’ but a ‘bantustan boss’ in an SMS.