Court orders hate speech apology to Chinese community
The Equality Court has ordered a number of people to apologise to the Chinese community and to pay R50 000 to a Chinese old age home, reports GroundUp.
This comes after comments posted on the Facebook pages of a Carte Blanche programme and the Karoo Donkey Sanctuary were found to be hate speech.
In January 2017, Carte Blanche aired a programme about animal abuse and the donkey skin trade. Among other things, it showed people slaughtering donkeys in an inhumane manner.
The Chinese Association of Gauteng identified 12 people who had made discriminatory statements, and began proceedings in the Equality Court against them to declare that their statements constituted hate speech.
The association also asked the Equality Court to make an order requiring them to: publish an apology, attend a human rights sensitisation course, and pay damages and legal costs.
Three respondents did not oppose the case.
Six others admitted in court papers that their statements constituted hate speech and unfair discrimination.
They also did not oppose the proceedings.
Only two respondents – David Horne and Mariette van der Linde de Klerk – opposed the case.
Article disclaimer: While we have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this article, it is not intended to provide final legal advice as facts and situations will differ from case to case, and therefore specific legal advice should be sought with a lawyer.
