The Nelson Mandela Foundation and AfriForum will be back in the Equality Court in Johannesburg on Tuesday for the second day of its legal battle over the apartheid flag.
The foundation has asked the court to declare the gratuitous display of the apartheid flag hate speech.
It says the continuation of such acts constitute hate speech, harassment and unfair discrimination. Lobby group AfriForum is opposing the application. It however says it’s not defending the flag, but it’s fighting for the freedom of expression.
Deputy Chairperson of the African National Congress (ANC) in Gauteng, Panyaza Lesufi, was in court on Monday to support the foundation’s application.
He says the ANC chose reconciliation in 1994 because it wanted to build a non-racial South Africa.
“Reconciliation must not be equated to stupidity. We chose reconciliation because we loved this country. What choice did we have, to chase people to the see, to fight people? We had a choice to build a new country, those who wanted an eye for an eye, it would have made everyone blind, and we chose to build a truly non-racial SA. We thought we were dealing with sane people that accepted that apartheid was wrong. But you can see, we’re not dealing with sane people. But we must not lose hope of building a non-racial South Africa.”
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