A Cape Town pastor is refusing to be gagged by the Equality Court and has vowed to continue to teach biblical views on sexuality, despite these being deemed as discriminating and inciting hatred against the gay community, reports Weekend Argus.

Reverend Oscar Bougardt was before the Equality Court at the Western Cape High Court last week after numerous homophobic rants and slandering on a Facebook page allegedly breached his 2018 court order.

Bougardt, of Calvary H.O.P.E Ministries in Cape Town, was sentenced to a 30-day jail term which was suspended for five years provided he makes no further anti-gay comments – a period which came to an end last week.

In 2018, Bougardt was found guilty in the Equality Court for his 2015 and 2016 comments, which included: ‘99% of paedophiles have (a) homosexual background’, ‘To hell with homosexuals ... their lifestyle is an abomination to God, but Christians in SA are too scared to speak out against (it)’, and ‘If I was the President of my country I would lock them in cages where they belong. They don’t even deserve a prison cell.’

Another cloud hangs over Bougardt’s head after Clive Jacobs, an LGBTQI+ activist, filed a complaint against him at the Human Rights Commission (HRC) in February following comments he made in a daily newspaper column.

In the column, Bougardt wrote: ‘homosexuality is an abomination to GOD’ and people should stop ‘forcing these LGBTQI+ ideologies down our throats’. 

Bougardt reportedly told Weekend Argus he was shocked last week when he received an email from the court registrar that he should have appeared in court in the Equality Court on Monday.

The hearing with the HRC was before the court on 15 May, but was stood down to get a hold of Bougardt and serve papers on him to appear the following day.

‘I was not notified by the human rights legal team, nor were any documents served on me to appear in court,’ he said.

‘The last time I was in court was in May 2018 for my hate speech trial. After the matter was done, I left the court and never heard about the HRC or their legal teams. I find it very strange that I am dragged before court a couple of days before my suspended sentence for hate speech comes to an end,’ he said.

‘What is very disturbing and annoying is that the HRC is trying to bully me, they use our taxpayers’ money to try to jail me. What about my human rights, what about my constitutional right to freedom of speech and freedom of religion?’ Bougardt asked.

In the separate case, Jacobs wants Bougardt to be found guilty of all complaints against him and stripped of all his rights as a priest. ‘He needs to be made an example of,’ said Jacobs.

Matthew du Plessis, acting provincial manager of the HRC, said they could not disclose much about the matter, as the litigation was still pending and the parties would likely still make legal arguments in court.

Bougardt will be back in court on 5 June.

Full Weekend Argus report