The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) is taking the EFF leader Julius Malema to court over a series of quotes of the late Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe he posted on his social media page.
Following Mugabe’s passing earlier in September, Malema posted a slide show of his quotes, including one which says “The only white man you can trust is a dead white man.”
The SAHRC’s Chairperson Professor Bongani Majola says they will file papers against Malema in the Equality Court because his actions constitute hate speech.
“It goes contrary to the provisions of Section 10 of the Promotion of Equality Act, which says no one should publish words based on prohibited grounds. Here, there is words based on race … have been published and they are objectively capable of being construed as demonstrating an intention to be harmful or hurtful or to promote or propagate hatred. The Act doesn’t punish the person who originates the thing. It punishes the person who publishes it. We are going to institute action in the Equality Court.”
