#PennySparrow: Twitter isn’t buying estate agent’s half-baked apology

Penny Sparrow, the former estate agent at the centre of a social media storm, has issued an apology for a Facebook post in which she compares black people to monkeys. Twitter though, is not buying the apology.

In her latest post, Sparrow says that she did not mean her post to be “a personal insult to anyone” and that she’s “sorry if you have taken it personally”.

She also claims that she is “not racial”, adding that she helps “underprivileged people of all races”.

As a reminder, the post which landed the Scottburgh-based realtor in hot water included lines such as:

“these monkeys that are allowed to be released on New Years Eve[sic] and new years day[sic] on to public beaches towns etc obviously have no education what so ever [sic] and to allow them loose is inviting huge dirt and discomfort to others.”

And:

“From now I.[sic] Shall [sic] address the blacks of South Africa as monkeys as I see the cute little wild monkeys do the same pick drop and litter [sic]”.

Small wonder then that Twitter isn’t exactly buying Sparrow’s apology.

So where exactly is the apology? #PennySparrow pic.twitter.com/f60iDShacL

— Maps Maponyane (@MapsMaponyane) January 4, 2016

#PennySparrow is "sorry if you took" her racism "personally". So it's not personal, is it business? pic.twitter.com/73GOYjc5yV

— Khaya Dlanga (@khayadlanga) January 4, 2016

#PennySparrow we don't want your apology. We want your address.

— White Mhlambi (@MrWhite_Mhlambi) January 4, 2016

Let me go sleep but leave you with this fake apology by #PennySparrow – why apologise for revealing your true self? pic.twitter.com/vwTlzJhEgg

— Eusebius McKaiser (@Eusebius) January 3, 2016

If you see #pennysparrow apology you wil see she says she is not a racist she helps needy blacks. the liberal myths shuttered yet again

— andile (@Mngxitama) January 3, 2016

#PennySparrow is not Racial. She helps the underprivileged including monkeys. A round of applause ladies & gents 👏 https://t.co/16nIPUhQfZ

— Asanda Magaqa (@asandamagaqa) January 3, 2016

Can #PennySparrow please explain for 10 marks how her original post was not meant to be racial? pic.twitter.com/8E1P3StFZ7

— Clever Black (@naledimashishi) January 3, 2016

So what #PennySparrow is saying is that we cannot read properly, if we could we would be able to see that her status was not racial…

— Suzette Kawaya (@SueBallonDor) January 4, 2016

People like #pennysparrow have no place in any society. No apology is acceptable & especially not saying "i help people of all races".

— Bruce Turner (@flattestdog) January 4, 2016

It has also emerged that in 2014, Sparrow wrote a post on You Magazine’s wall comparing the people in charge of South African state services to apes: