Cape Town – The Johannesburg High Court has overturned the South African Human Rights Commission’s (SAHRC) ruling that Julius Malema, the EFF party, did not commit hate speech during a 2016 gathering.
The court’s decision came in response to a review application by civil rights organisation AfriForum, which contested the SAHRC’s 2019 ruling.
Malema’s statement at the gathering, “We are not calling for the slaughtering of white people, at least for now”, was previously deemed by the commission as not constituting hate speech.
But according to Times Live, Judge Roland Sutherland on Friday, nullified the SAHRC’s ruling, saying that the commission lacked the authority to make definitive decisions or findings.
“It is plain that the SAHRC is not empowered or authorised to decide whether a violation of human rights has indeed occurred. It follows that it is not within the power or authority of the SAHRC to pronounce that an alleged violation is indeed a violation and, moreover, it is not within the power or authority of the SAHRC to exonerate a person from an allegation of having violated human rights.
“The SAHRC may opine there is no contravention of section 10 of [the Equality Act] but for the reason already traversed that opinion has no status whatsoever. The opinion of the SAHRC on such a question ranks with the opinion of any other person eligible to bring a case before the equality court,” the report quoted Sutherland as saying.
Sutherland said the court had no jurisdiction to decide the matter and that the answer was reserved for the Equality Court, News24 reported.
“Whether the notion of these remarks are not unlawful, as is the opinion of the SAHRC, stands up to scrutiny in the light of the equality jurisprudence of the courts must await adjudication,” he said.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
