Cape Town - MOTORISTS driving along the N7 highway in the direction of Malmesbury in Cape Town may be surprised to see the old South African flag up for sale.
An unidentified person is looking to sell it for an undisclosed amount of money.
The flag was the subject of an Equality Court ruling in 2019. The case was brought by the Nelson Mandela Foundation after a 2017 #BlackMonday protest where it was displayed by individuals protesting farm murders.
Judge Phineas Mojapelo ruled the gratuitous display of flag constituted hate speech – but the parameters of a gratuitous display, such as hanging the flag on a fence at the side of the road while trying to sell it – were never defined.
@CityofCT an apartheid flag has been hung up on the fence just outside of Summer Greens along the N7 side facing Edgemead. Who do l talk to, to have this taken down?
— Marhawu🇿🇦 (@Aluwei) March 5, 2021
Secretary of the The SA Vexillological Association (which studies flags), Bruce Berry, said the sale of the flag is not illegal either.
“If no one has complained about it no one is worried about it ... you can go to any militaria dealer in South Africa or a military shop and you will see American flags, the old and new South African flag, old police flags and old army flags for sale, possibly even a Nazi flag.
“For academic purposes and in a museum and places like that it’s displayed, but if you or anyone else feels offended by seeing the old flag stuck on the road well then, you could be legitimate in your request to say please don’t display it and, if that person didn’t want to accede to your request you could have a case,” Berry added.
In 2017, a group of friends entered a Sea Point pub and took issue with the display of the old South African flag at that venue.
They disagreed with the barman about displaying the flag and it ended in a fracas. The men claimed they were assaulted and police later arrested three of them for being drunk in public.
Weekend Argus