A Nelspruit businessman was fined R2 000 on Tuesday for punching a Stellenbosch university professor over a letter he wrote to a newspaper.
Abel Albertus Malan appeared in the Stellenbosch Regional Court before Magistrate Anne Marie Immelman, who also ordered him to pay R2 000 compensation to the academic, Anton van Niekerk.
The letter that appeared in Beeld newspaper criticised Afrikaners for their role in the bush war in South West Africa, now Namibia.
In addition to the R2 000 fine and R2 000 compensation, Malan was sentenced to three months imprisonment, conditionally suspended for five years.
The hearing took the form of plea bargain proceedings.
Malan paid the fine.
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