Retired real estate agent Penny Sparrow who unleashed a social media storm after making racist remarks is due to appear in the Durban Equality Court for hate speech on Friday.

But chances are she might be tried in absentia.

Sparrow made headlines in January after calling black people “monkeys” in a Facebook rant. She went to ground immediately after a national social media outcry over her racist remarks.

Attempts to contact her after she fled her home on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast home have come to nought.

Not even attempts by the ANC’s legal team to serve court papers on her via several newspapers in April have yielded any positive results on her whereabouts. She was given 10 business days to respond but did not do so.

ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe wanted Sparrow to face the Equality Court over her Facebook post which compared Durban beachgoers to monkeys.

He is asking the court to rule that the post was racist and propagated hate by dehumanising black people and hopes the court will fine her R200‚000 to be paid to a charity supporting non-racialism.

Mantashe said that‚ if left unchecked‚ Sparrow’s action could lead to others making racist utterances and “engaging in hate speech”.

But speculation is that Sparrow‚ who closed her Facebook account‚ will be a no-show when her case comes before the Equality Court in Umzinto on Friday.

In an interview with the Sunday Times in January‚ Sparrow said she was unlikely to stay in KwaZulu-Natal because many people who were outraged by her statements had found out where she lived.

She said she was considering moving to Port Elizabeth because she had friends there.

A large media contingent is expected to descend on the small town for the court case.

ANC lawyer Peter Williams said the case will go ahead irrespective of whether Sparrow is there or not.

“I don’t know whether she is going to be there but the court case will go ahead with or without her.”