Court overturns SAHRC hate speech finding against Malema
AfriForum says a court has set aside the findings by the SA Human Rights Commission that remarks by EFF leader Julius Malema in 2019 did not amount to hate speech.
The lobby group's Ernst van Zyl said Johannesburg High Court Judge Roland Sutherland ruled in favour of their application to review and set aside the findings of the SA Human Rights Commission on Friday.
This after the Commission found that Malema's remarks in 2016, that they were not calling for the "slaughtering" of white people for now, did not constitute hate speech.
Van Zyl said the court also found that the Human Rights Commission does not have binding powers to make definitive decisions or findings.
He hailed the judgment as a double victory for AfriForum.
"The utterances by Malema, which are in question here, were made in 2016 during a gathering in Newcastle when he said, among other things: 'We are not calling for the slaughtering of white people, at least for now'."
AfriForum filed court papers in 2019 to review the SAHRC's decision that these utterances are not hate speech.
"This is a double victory for AfriForum over the SAHRC, as our position is that Julius Malema committed clear hate speech in 2016 and that the SAHRC does not have binding powers. Both have now been confirmed by the court," said Van Zyl.
"There is a further success in this great victory, and that is that it also sets the precedent that findings made by the SAHRC may be challenged in court."
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