The Equality Court case at the Bellville Magistrate’s Court against DA MP Dianne Kohler Barnard was dismissed yesterday and a cost order was issued against the complainant, former DA chief of staff Louw Nel.

A Daily Maverick report says the case was dismissed on the grounds that Nel could not provide concrete evidence that remarks made by Kohler Barnard at an internal crime and policing workshop on 2 February 2018 were ‘racist, sexist and xenophobic’.

Magistrate Jerome Koeries said Nel had not presented a prima facie case that Kohler Barnard’s comments amounted to discrimination according to the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act.

‘There was no evidence placed before the court, only bare allegations,’ Koeries said.

Nel had alleged in his founding affidavit that Kohler Barnard had made three problematic statements suggesting that: Zimbabweans were ‘predisposed to murder’; that ‘women are stupid’ for falling victim to cyber-crime; and that black children in KZN were responsible for killing ‘whiteys’ by throwing rocks from bridges.

Koeries found that Kohler Barnard had provided sufficient evidence to prove that her claims were based on circumstantial ‘facts’ rather than her own supposedly bigoted opinion. He also said Nel had called ‘poor witnesses’ to the stand – three DA staff members who had been present at the workshop: Grant Caswell, Mondli Zondo and Christa Badenhorst.

According to Koeries, they could not ‘corroborate’ Nel’s allegations as they had failed to recall the specifics of what Kohler Barnard had said during the workshop. Koeries again questioned why Nel took a year to bring the case before the Equality Court.

He said Nel had been given two opportunities to settle the case through alternative avenues, but had refused.

Full Daily Maverick report

‘I am glad Mr Nel’s spurious charges have been exposed for what they were, and I look forward to continuing doing my job serving the people of SA and building one SA for all,’ Kohler Barnard is quoted as saying by TimesLIVE.

She added that it had been suggested that Nel laid charges against her so long after the lunch-hour meeting because he was trying to use the matter to mitigate against more than 15 charges against him by numerous staff members, an MP and an MPL.

Kohler Barnard said the charges were for racism, sexism and other offences.

‘The magistrate stated that he had wasted both the court's and my time, and instructed him to pay all costs ... for my attorney and my advocate for the five-day trial period,’ she said.

Nel has consistently denied that he was facing charges in the DA. He parted ways with the party by ‘mutual agreement’ a month after he laid the charges against Kohler Barnard.

‘The important thing about today's verdict is that Koeries found the comment I alleged she made (was) not denied. He found that they didn't meet the requirements for discrimination as per Pepuda (the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act).’

Full TimesLIVE report