New hate speech bill saga

The new hate speech bill could take South Africa back to the dark days of censorship of the apartheid era.

So says the Freedom of Religion South Africa (FOR SA) civil organisation, who delivered over 10 000 written submissions to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) opposing the bill.

The submissions were a last-ditch attempt to have the Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill amended, after religious organisations, political parties, and civil society groups cited concerns about its broad definition of “harm” and its lack of definition of “hate” or “hatred”.

Submissions closed last Thursday, reports IOL.

The government has defended the bill saying its purpose was to address the increasing number of incidents involving hate crime and hate speech motivated by prejudice, and to assist victims.

However, FOR SA says that South Africa already has existing laws that are used effectively to sanction “hate speech”.

“This proposed law is a serious threat to our constitutional right to religious freedom and to the fundamental democratic right of freedom of speech.

“No one should face criminal sanctions for saying what they believe to be true, even if others find their views to be highly offensive or unacceptable,” says Michael Swain, executive director of FOR SA.

He says the Equality Act currently gives the courts a wide range of powers to impose fines and other civil penalties, while the common law crime of crimen injuria has been used to prosecute racist speech successfully in the recent cases of Vicki Momberg and Penny Sparrow.

If the bill is passed into law in its current form, an offender could face up to eight years behind bars.

“As a new democracy, we cannot afford to return to the dark days of censorship of the apartheid era,” says FOR SA’s attorney, Daniela Ellerbeck.

The bill was approved by the National Assembly on March 14 and if passed by the NCOP, it will only await the signature of President Cyril Ramaphosa before it comes into force.

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