Cape Town - The same-sex couple denied by the Beloftebos Wedding Venue have accused the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) of opportunism and “cheap politics” for fronting their names in its application to the Equality Court.
In a statement, Sasha-Lee Heekes and Megan Watling said: “We simply do not trust the SAHRC to act in our best interests.
“The case has nothing to do with human rights or concern for the LGBTQIA+ community, but is a case of cheap politics on behalf of the SAHRC.
“Our concern is that their motives for filing urgently on Monday was motivated not by a need to protect the LGBTQIA+ community which they neglected to do for years, nor realising their mistake, a desire to rectify matters as soon as possible, but rather in order to grab media attention.”
The action in the Equality Court based on two cases. The first is a 2017 case similar to that of Heekes and Watlings in which the Beloftebos Wedding Venue refused to host the wedding of Alexandra Thorne and Alex Lu who have since left South Africa.
Thorne and Lu alongside several members of the public then lodged a complaint with the SAHRC which has now been combined with the most recent incident.
“In a separate meeting, the representatives of the CGE assured us that they were not ready to proceed with their case against Beloftebos and that they were not joining the SAHRC as second applicant.
“Given the misleading information given to us by the SAHRC and their extreme tardiness, with due consideration, we wrote to SAHRC on Thursday withdrawing our complaint and asking them to not seek relief on our behalf,” added Heekes and Watling.
In the application to the Equality Court, Commissioner André Gaum of the SAHRC said: “I included the fact of the second complaint in the affidavit in order to provide the court with a more complete factual contexts, and to demonstrate that Beloftebos were persistent in their unlawful policy of exclusion.”
On Wednesday, Gaum added: “Although the statement is inappropriate, misleading and slanderous, the commission is not prepared to get involved in mud-slinging.
“That would divert attention from the most important human rights matter we are dealing with and we should concentrate on now.
“The SAHRC will certainly do its bit to execute its constitutional mandate (and) we believe we have a very strong case.
“I understand the couple want to lodge their own application, which is their right to do.
“If so, we will request that the matters are consolidated and heard as a single matter by the court.”