Breaking: Adam Catzavelos avoids jail time, sentenced to R50 000 fine

Blue skies, white beaches – and not a jail term in sight. Heaven on earth for Adam Catzevelos.

Convicted racist Catzavelos has been sentenced to a R50 000 fine or a suspended two-year jail term after he appeared at the Randburg magistrate’s court to learn his fate on Friday morning. 

Guilty of crimen injuria

Catzavelos was found guilty of crimen injuria in 2019 after a foul mouthed, racist rant the he filmed during a holiday to Greece. The video of him bragging about the fact that there was “not a k***** in sight” was shared on a WhatsApp group and went viral. 

Two years on, Catzavelos’ life has changed significantly from those whimsical days on a Greek beach. He was fired from his family business amid a nationwide furore that saw him vilified beyond the pale. 

The EFF, who brought the case against him, marched on his home and he claimed that he feared for his family’s safety in the weeks that followed after receiving death threats.

Accompanied by some of the ladies who work at the Seth Mazibuko Foundation in Orlando, Soweto, where Catzevelos has been completing mandatory community service, Catzavelos seemed resigned to the decision of the court. 

A changed man?

Last week, he argued in mitigation of his sentence, saying that through his time with the foundation, he had learnt the true extent of the damage his words had caused and said that with the help of the Gogos there, he had become a new man. 

Indeed, the ladies themselves have dubbed him Mxolisi, a Zulu word for forgiveness. 

This is a developing story