Africa-Press – South-Africa. AfriForum says it is keeping a watchful eye over the hate speech case of EFF leader Julius Malema to ensure that he is taken to the Equality Court by the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC).
This is in connection with statements made by Malema which the commission subsequently declared to be hate speech and incitement to violence.
The SAHRC gave Malema a written notice on 8 November to retract his statements within 10 days and to issue an apology.
Should the EFF leader fail to do this, the SAHRC stated that it would take him to the Equality Court to obtain an interim interdict.
The 10-day period ended on Friday.
AfriForum said that it had submitted complaints to the SAHRC in October 2022 following Malema’s statements at the EFF’s provincial congress in the Western Cape.
In a statement, AfriForum claimed that Malema had told EFF delegates:
The EFF rejected the allegations made by the SAHRC, labelling them “as part of the nefarious attempts to erase the truth of our liberation history and an attempt to limit free speech”.
Spokesperson Sinawo Thambo told News24 that Malema and the party would not retract the statement.
“We won’t be retracting any statement because that was a political speech which has had no verifiable or causal link to incitement or hatred,” he said.
“The SAHRC reached a determination that we must retract or apologise, without giving us any opportunity to present our side of the story, defying all natural laws of justice, and if we must meet them in court the same way we did AfriForum and expose them there, then we are ready to do so.”
Ernst van Zyl, campaign officer for strategy and content at AfriForum, said:
“The SAHRC has given their word that they will take Malema to the Equality Court if he does not respond to their demands within 10 days. Malema and the EFF have made it clear that they do not concern themselves with the SAHRC’s demands, therefore, the SAHRC must now keep their promise,” he said.
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