Kimberley - ANC councillor Shaine Griqua has opened charges of hate speech against the wife of DA provincial leader Andrew Louw - Mariam Louw - as well as DA councillor Herbert Japhta, where the matter is heading to the Equality Court.
Mariam also intends charging Griqua for crimen injuria.
In an affidavit Griqua stated that he was ridiculed - where he was called a “man/woman, woman/man, a moffie, m**t and an aunty”.
He stated that during the national government elections in May, DA councillor Herbert Japhta’s exact words to him were: “Gaan, jy is ‘* m**t, ‘* aunty en ‘* moffie” (go, you are a m**t, an aunty and a queer).
Japhta is currently the DA councillor for ward 28, which had been occupied by Griqua before he returned to the ANC in January.
Griqua stated that he became involved in an argument with Japhta, where he felt that his rights as a human being and in particular as a representative of the gay and lesbian community were violated.
“He said that I am not fit to take care of my father. I said he must go to his father’s grave and make peace with his father and family, as this was my response after his brother attacked me as I was the ward councillor who resigned from the DA and went over to the ANC as a proportional representative councillor while Herbert Japhta was the new ward councillor for the DA.”
He added that threats were made to his life by DA councillor Mariam Louw on a Facebook post on Tuesday this week.
He stated that the post read: “Your threats to my life will come to an end soondefaming my name Shane and Moirasee you in court soon”.
Griqua responded by informing her that “I am not scared of courts”.
He is also refusing to remove posts that he made on social media, where he is engaged in an argument with Mariam Louw despite receiving a lawyer’s letter from Lovius Block Attorneys in Bloemfontein on August 28.
Griqua believes that he was being discriminated against on the basis of his sexuality.
“In a few of the posts she refers to me as “man/woman” “man/mam” and I feel she is violating my rights as a human being as I am not confused as to my sexual orientation and neither my gender nor my sexuality.
“My name was dragged through the mud as she said she has a file on me as I am a criminal and she will take the file to the Hawks.
“I am not aware of any criminal offence that I have done neither am I aware of a criminal file against me.”
In a lawyer’s letter, Lovius Block Attorneys stated that their client (Mariam Louw) had instructed them to proceed with a charge of crimen injuria against Griqua.
“It is our instructions that you uttered vulgar and/or defamatory words towards our client on the social media public platform known as Facebook on July 27.”
It was stated that the remarks were “not only false and unlawful but scarred the reputation of our client”.
“Our client has an unblemished reputation and it is clear that your remarks were made with the intent of defaming our client and harming her reputation, which it most definitely did.
“We are proceeding with further legal steps against you and you are hereby demanded to remove your posts and/or comments relating to our client on Facebook within 12 hours from receipt of this notice, as failure to do so will leave us with no other choice but to proceed with an urgent interdict against you in the high court and you will be held liable for the costs of such an application.”
Japhta denied calling Griqua any derogatory names.
“I will not entertain shadow politics. I do not deal with personalities outside of chambers. It appears as if he has an unhealthy obsession with DA councillors and is a compulsive liar. I am too busy improving services in my ward to bother about trivial matters such as this and if he wants to take the matter to the Equality Court, I will see him in court,” said Japhta.