The move to start legislating prejudice against the Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTQI+) community as a hate crime is underway.
This comes as the Justice and Correctional Services Committee took a decision to re-publish the Prevention and Combating of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech for public comment.
Video: Hate Speech Bill published for public comment in SA
The Committee says it could not proceed with the Bill in 2019 due to the elections and as it was awaiting the Constitutional Court judgment on the John Qwelane matter.
It says this led to the lapsing of the Bill in the fifth Parliament. The court found that Qwelane’s column, in which he commented about gay people, constituted hate speech.
Qwelane is the late South African Ambassador to Uganda. Committee Chairperson Bulelani Magwanishe said the Concourt judgement gives clear parameters on how the committee should approach the Bill. He said this after the committee received a briefing on the Concourt judgement last week.
