Actor and comedian Siya Radebe, like many South Africans, were disturbed by the racist slurs that were made by a woman who goes by the name of Penny Sparrow. Sparrow, who works as an estate agent, rubbed off the entire nation the wrong way when she referred to black people as "monkeys" on social media.
After the news of her racist comments went viral, the public taunted her and demanded that Sparrow’s real estate license be terminated.
However, the demands for her license termination do not sit well with Siya Radebe, who thinks the nation could give Penny a more lenient form of punishment.
“Though I joke a lot about serious things...I am not sure if punishing someone by taking away their means to make a living is the best way to go about doing things. I didn’t like the fact that she called blacks monkeys but I don’t know if that means she must not work anymore," he said in an Instagram post.
"Maybe making her work in the rural areas for a year or so would have been a way to go about doing things.
"There will come a time when we as blacks are punished for such things for what we say about whites. How you punish someone says a lot."
Some of Siya’s followers agreed with his comment, whilst others felt that the actor was being too compassionate.