The old South African flag will come into focus when the Nelson Mandela Foundation and AfriForum appear in the Equality Court on 29 and 30 April to argue for and against whether the apartheid symbol constitutes hate speech. In February last year, the foundation announced that it had made an application to the Equality Court for an order declaring that gratuitous displays of the old apartheid flag constitute hate speech, unfair discrimination and harassment based on race, it said in a statement yesterday.

'For the foundation, it is time to acknowledge that the old flag is a symbol of what was a crime against humanity and that its gratuitous public display celebrates that crime and humiliates everyone who fought against it, especially black South Africans,' said spokesperson Luzuko Koti, according to News24.

'It is important that the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act be used as an instrument to discourage such behaviour.'

AfriForum is opposing the application, arguing that the Equality Act's provisions on hate speech don't cover displays and communications involving symbols and images, but only words. AfriForum had said in its court papers that a wide-reaching ban of the old apartheid flag would be an unconstitutional infringement on the right to freedom of expression.

AfriForum stated in its papers that it acknowledged that the old flag had the capacity to cause offence and emotional distress.

It argued, however, that it would not be so in all the cases that the foundation seeks to prohibit. The South African Human Rights Commission, which is supporting the foundation's application, declared, in its heads of argument, an interest in forcing amendments to the Equality Act, should its hate speech provisions be found not to cover displays of symbols like flags.

Full News24 report