Adam Catzavelos to pay off R150,000 fine in deal over k-word slur

Businessman Adam Catzavelos has agreed to pay a fine of R150,000 for using a racial slur directed at black South Africans, according to a deal he has struck with the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC).

Catzavelos has also made a written apology as part of the settlement agreement, which is to be made an order of the equality court sitting in Randburg on Thursday. The commission had laid a complaint of hate speech against him with the court.

The Johannesburg resident catapulted to notoriety in August last year after a video of him using the k-word, to celebrate the fact that there were no black people around him during a beach holiday in Greece, went viral.

In the letter of apology prepared by Catzavelos, he said he felt disgusted, horrified and ashamed of his behaviour last year.

"I acknowledge what I have done and the harm it has caused first and foremost to black South Africans but also to our country, to all South Africans irrespective of race and to my family and I take full responsibility for it and hold myself accountable," Catzavelos said in his letter of apology.

In terms of the settlement agreement which was still to be made an order of court later on Thursday, Catzavelos agreed to pay the fine in installments of R5,000 over 30 months.

Catzavelos will also perform community service under the auspices of the Seth Mazibuko Foundation. Mazibuko was the youngest member of the Student Action Committee that planned and led the 1976 Soweto uprising, according to the city of Johannesburg's archives. He was only 16 years old when he was arrested and held in solitary confinement for 11 months at a Braamfontein prison before his imprisonment on Robben Island for seven years.