In Focus

Nelson Mandela Foundation and AfriForum to face off in court

The Nelson Mandela Foundation and AfriForum are expected to appear before the Equality Court to present arguments about the display of the apartheid-era South African flag.

The Equality Court is expecting to hear arguments for and against the display of the old South African flag and whether it constitutes as hate speech. The Nelson Mandela Foundation will argue that “gratuitous displays” of the apartheid-era South African flag should legally be considered hate speech, while minority rights lobby group AfriForum will oppose the foundation’s application, arguing that only words, not symbols and images, constitute hate speech according to the Equality Court’s definition. The two parties will be appearing in court on Monday, 29 April 2019 and Tuesday, 30 April 2019.

In a statement on Monday, 29 April 2019, the foundation announced that it had made an application to the Equality Court in February 2018 for an order declaring that gratuitous displays of the old apartheid flag constitute hate speech, unfair discrimination and harassment based on race.

“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.

“It is important that the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act (‘Equality Act’) be used as an instrument to discourage such behaviour,” he continued.

Meanwhile, AfriForum’s court papers say that the organisation has “no particular love for the flag or what it represents,” adding that it is “exceptionally rare” for anyone to bring the old flag to one of their events and that when this does happen they “ask them to put it away.”

The organisation also conceded that there are circumstances in which displaying the flag could be seen as hateful but argued that this would not be true of the cases in which the Nelson Mandela Foundation are arguing it should be prohibited.

Abenathi Gqomo
a.gqomo@politicalanalysis.co.za