Racist Fish Advert Banned by South African Watchdog

South Africa's advertising watchdog has ordered a fish restaurant to withdraw a commercial after viewers complained that it was racist.

The advert, for Cape Town Fish Market, features a blacked-up man sitting in a large office, apparently parodying a dictator. The character talks about putting items on an "expense account", suggesting corruption.

The commercial received two complaints from disgruntled viewers, prompting the ASA to take action.

The watchdog claimed the character was "depicted with a derogatory intention, speaks with a thick accent, and recalls a stereotypical black dictator,

"To achieve the desired result of showing a corrupt official, there was no need for the man to be made out to be black."

The restaurant agreed to withdraw the ad, although its general manager, Davin Berrill, insisted the ad was meant to be humorous.

Teacher in trouble for racist slur

Elsewhere, a white South African teacher will be forced to work in predominantly black schools after using a racist epithet in the classroom.

Charleen Damones, who worked at Vergenoegd Primary School just a few miles from Cape Town, was found guilty of misconduct after shouting the word "kaffir", a derogatory term for black people, at a pupil.

Damones was suspended for two months without pay, ordered to attend counselling sessions, and will be posted to black schools for a period of two months when she goes back to work.

One parent told news site IOL: "It's about time she got punished. She thought she could get away with it.

"But this punishment is just a slap on the wrist. She was supposed to have been fired, not to just be suspended without pay for two months."

Another parent said: "You cannot belittle people like that. What are the other children supposed to learn from her?"