Former S. African president's son fined for hate speech

JOHANNESBURG, May 22 (Xinhua) -- Former South African president Jacob Zuma's son Edward on Tuesday agreed to pay 60,000 rand (5,000 U.S. dollars) and apologize for his insulting letter.

Last year Edward wrote an open letter, in which he labeled the then finance minister Pravin Gordhan and tourism minister Derek Hanekom, two critics of Zuma, as "sell outs."

On Tuesday Edward reached an agreement at Durban Equality Court to pay 5,000 dollars and apologize for his hate speech.

The fine would be given to two needy schools in Durban. According to the court settlement, Edward is required to write an unconditional apology directed to all South Africans in the next seven days.

The South African Human Rights Commission laid the complaint after Edward wrote the scathing letter decrying the two ministers.

In the letter, Zuma called Derek Hanekom "a white, white monopoly capitalist offspring -- who is no better than a vile dog trained to maul a black skin."

Zuma also stated in his letter that Gordhan, of Indian origin, wants locals to be always poor and eat left-overs from the Indians. Enditem