People not discriminated against found it difficult to understand the sensitivity of victims of discrimination, former Reserve Bank governor Tito Mboweni's counsel told the Equality Court in Pretoria.
Businessman Mario Pretorius has taken Mboweni to court over comments he made during an annual general meeting on September 19, 2008, contending that they amounted to hate speech and were unfair and discriminatory.
Pretorius is demanding compensation, an apology and that Mboweni pay legal costs.
He had asked Mboweni to bring the meeting to order, but Mboweni refused.
When Pretorius twice replied: "Shocking", Mboweni retorted: "I shall not permit you to talk to me like whites used to talk to blacks".
During Friday's hearing, Mboweni's counsel Geoff Budlender asked Pretorius: "Can you understand you did give him [Mboweni] offence by telling him how to dismiss a point of order?"
Pretorius replied: "No, sir", adding that he did not believe the manner in which he spoke to Mboweni was in any way patronising.
Mboweni's counsel contends that Pretorius "heckled and lectured" the former governor on how to chair a meeting and told the court that this was the way in which whites used to address black people under apartheid.
"The response was reasonable," Budlender submitted, contending that Pretorius was "rude and offensive".
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