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Ruling on posting of old South African flag expected on Tuesday

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Judgment in the Nelson Mandela Foundation’s urgent appication against the lobby group AfriForum’s CEO Ernst Roets, is expected to be handed down on Tuesday in the Equality Court sitting in the High Court in Johannesburg.

This follows Roets’ tweet of an image of the old South African flag. Roets did so just hours after the court ruled that gratuitous displays of the flag constituted hate speech, harassment and unfair discrimination.

The foundation is of the view that Roets’ actions were in bad faith and in contempt of court.

However, Roets disagrees saying his actions were well within the law.

The Nelson Mandela Foundation has called on the court to find Erenst Roets in contempt of court, claiming that he blatantly defied a court order when he posted a picture of the old South African flag on Twitter.

When the application was heard earlier this month, the Nelson Mandela Foundation submitted that Roets insulted the court by his actions and that he should be given a sentence of 30 days direct imprisonment for being in contempt of court.

However, Roets’ lawyer argued that he posted the picture of the old flag purely for academic purposes, which is allowed in the order made by the Equality Court.

Roets says he is confident that the court will make a ruling stating that he is not in contempt of court.

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