Cape Town - Racists could soon find themselves behind bars as the Justice Department seeks to criminalise hate speech following the recent “explosion of racism”.
The department is set to include hate speech and racist behaviour as crimes in the Hate Crimes Bill.
Deputy Justice Minister John Jeffrey said it had not been the government’s intention to have to criminalise hate speech and racist behaviour, but a decision had been made to change the bill after the recent spate of racism.
Since the beginning of the month Penny Sparrow, economist Chris Hart, radio and television personality Gareth Cliff, gym owner Justin van Vuuren, government employee Velaphi Khumalo and recruiter Nicole de Klerk were all embroiled in racism allegations. Jobs and lucrative contracts were lost because of their posts on social media.
Their views and utterances created a national storm and prompted Independent Media, owner of the Cape Times, its parent company, Sekunjalo Investment Holdings, and the SA Clothing and Textile Workers Union to launch “Racism. It Stops With Me” – a campaign which will officially be launched on February 11, using Independent’s newspaper and online platforms.
Jeffrey said on Monday once it became law, people who were found guilty of hate speech and racism could end up in jail, depending on the severity of the crime. “Our existing laws provide that hate speech be dealt with in Equality Courts, where complainants receive compensation if they get a favourable ruling.
“The Hate Crimes Bill had been completed late last year, but the explosion of racism recently has forced us to relook at it to include hate speech as a crime. The amendments will foster a new public participation process… The bill will be passed around June,” he said.
Western Cape Justice head Hishaam Mohamed said people subjected to racism had not been using Equality Courts enough. He said from March 2010 to date 162 complaints had been lodged at 14 of the 46 Equality Courts in the province, of which 146 matters had been finalised.
“It is interesting to note that 111 of the 162 complaints were lodged in Bellville and Cape Town. Bellville had 67, the highest number. From the analysis of these 162 matters, the nature of these complaints related to 87 cases of unfair discrimination. There were 48 cases of hate speech, 16 of harassment and in three cases the discrimination could not be determined,” Mohamed said.
Despite the department’s numerous interventions, Equality Courts had not reached their full potential to protect the constitutional rights of the most vulnerable.
“This is reflected by the increased spate of racial intolerance and xenophobia exposed in the media,” he said.
The Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) has warned against criminalising “expression”. FXI spokesperson Sheniece Linderboom said freedom of expression was central to democracy as it was a prerequisite to realising other human rights, provided in the Bill of Rights.
“Without freedom of expression members of the public are unable to contribute or comment on the political, social and economic matters of this country. Thus, criminalising expression under the premise that it is hate speech creates a culture of silencing individuals, which could potentially and effectively suppress the ability of people to participate in their democracy,” she said.
Linderboom said current measures contained in the constitution and the Equality Act were sufficient to curb hate speech. “What would be useful is tightening definitions of hate speech.
“The state should also use existing mechanisms, including the Equality Review Committee, to devise creative ways to prevent racist, sexist and other prejudicial behaviour.”
Cape Times