Tougher anti-racism laws underway in South Africa

The row over racist comments posted by Ms. Penny Sparrow, an opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) member, on Facebook when she called black people “monkeys”, has led to South Africa’s governing African National Congress (ANC) saying it will push for tougher legislation to jail anyone guilty of “racial bigotry”, or “glorifying” apartheid.

Black people could no longer be treated as “sub-humans”, the ANC said in a statement.
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Read also: South African King begins jail term

Ms Sparrow denied she was a racist following reactions over her post and the opposition DA party has subsequently suspended her membership.

The racially discriminatory apartheid system ended in South Africa in 1994 after it had been introduced in 1948 by the then-white minority government and was later declared by the UN as a crime against humanity.

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