A gender justice group took African National Congress Youth League president Julius Malema to the Johannesburg Equality Court after he made the comment to students in January 2009. Jacob Zuma was acquitted of rape in 2006 after he insisted the sex was consensual and went on to become president last year.
Just hours after the conviction, a court official sent a second round of hate-speech complaints to Malema. These complaints address Malema's decision last week to lead college students in singing a song that calls for the killing of white South African farmers.
The judge who convicted Malema ordered him to make an unconditional public apology within two weeks and pay 50,000 rand ($6,700) to a center for abused women, called People Opposing Women Abuse, within a month, South African media reported.
"Instead of perpetuating rape myths, public figures should make it clear that rape can happen anywhere ... We need to make sure that women who have been raped are not stigmatized and are not made to feel like the crimes against them were their fault," said Mbuyiselo Botha, spokesperson for the Sonke Gender Justice group that took Malema to court.
Malema was not present in court to hear Monday's judgment. Malema's lawyer said his client will appeal soon.
Law firms are circling geothermal energy company Ormat Technologies, after a class action law suit was filed accusing the firm and its executives of knowlingly falsifying its accounts.
Pennsylvania firm Howard G Smith filed the class action lawsuit on behalf of investors, after Ormat revealed back in February that it would have to revise its accounts for the year up to December 2008.
Ormat announced on February 26 that it had reviewed its accounting procedures, and decided the way it had treated costs associated with discontinued geothermal projects had been “discontinued”.
The move will see its income for 2008 downgraded by $6.2 million.
The law suit has arisen since Ormat’s admission apparently led to its share value dropping by nearly 13%. The class action alleges that Ormat and its executives were liable for investors’ losses.
A number of law firms came out over the weekend, chasing Ormat investors with the offer of representing them in the class action suit. These include the Colorado-based Shuman Law Firm, Oklahoma City firm Federman & Sherwood, Connecticut-based Izard Nobel, Dallas firm Kendall Law Group and the New York-based Brualdi Law Firm.
Thomas McFarland had unsuccessfully sought to enter a pretrial intervention program that would have spared him a criminal record.
Under terms of a plea agreement, the state will recommend the 61-year-old be sentenced to one year of probation and be ordered to pay the seaside town of Avalon $100,000 to offset cleanup costs.
McFarland admitted dumping hypodermic needles, cotton swabs and other medical waste into an inlet just before Labor Day weekend in 2008.
His lawyer says the dentist was distraught to the point of mental illness over his wife's lung cancer, and appeared to be acting out in "a cry for help."
The three-judge panel Tuesday ordered the secretary of state to accept the group's petition seeking to recall Sen. Robert Menendez. That allows the tea party activists to begin collecting the 1.3 million voter signatures they need to get a recall on the ballot.
The court set aside the larger question of whether voters have a constitutional right to recall a federal lawmaker.
New Jersey is among 18 states that allow recalls of statewide elected officials. There is no right to recall congressmen and senators under the U.S. Constitution.
The court says it would take up that question if the petition drive succeeds.