CAPE TOWN, South Africa -- A judge Wednesday sentenced former anti-apartheid hero Allan Boesak to six years in prison for defrauding donors to a charity he headed.
Boesak, 53, was convicted last week in Cape Town's High Court on four counts of fraud and theft from foreign donors including singer Paul Simon and a Swedish government aid agency.He used some of the $400,000, donated to a charity he headed, to buy two houses in plush Cape Town suburbs.
The judge, referring to a letter sent by Nobel laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu in defense of the one-time African National Congress official, acknowledged that Boesak played an important part in ridding South Africa of the hated system of apartheid.
But a lenient sentence would mean "the administration of justice could fall into disrepute," Judge John Foxcroft said in the packed courtroom.
Scores of supporters chanted "Boesak, Boesak, long live Boesak," when he arrived. After sentencing, they held up signs reading, "Boesak you are our hero."