AfriForum loses SCA appeal in apartheid flag case
Lobby group AfriForum on Friday said it was mulling further legal steps after the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein dismissed its application to overturn the ban on the display of the old South African flag.
AfriForum turned to the Supreme Court of Appeal following an earlier decision of the Equality Court declaring the gratuitous display of the apartheid-era flag as hate speech.
In 2019, the Nelson Mandela Foundation and the South African Human Rights Commission approached the court after the flag was displayed by demonstrators at a march against farm murders.
The court unanimously found the gratuitous public display of the old flag to constitute hate speech, unfair race discrimination and harassment in terms of the Equality Act.
But the lobby group’s Ernst van Zyl believes the ruling seeks to water down freedom of expression.
“AfriForum’s position in this old flag case does not mean that the organisation displays the flag or that we will not strongly oppose genuine hate speech, which is the propagation of hatred against a group of people based on their identity and when the statement contains an incitement to cause harm. We are entering very chaotic and dangerous waters when the law can be wielded to attempt to protect people from feelings of offence alone,” says Van Zyl.
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