After five years, a hate speech matter brought by Chinese South African communities has wrapped up in the Equality Court with a strong message about the consequences of spreading hatred and discrimination on social media.
There were spontaneous cheers and sustained clapping from members of Chinese communities in South Africa that packed Judge Motsamai Makume’s courtroom — even sitting in the aisles — on Thursday.
The focus of the case revolved around the 12 respondents: Cynthia le Roux, Dawn Reeve, Regina Richardson, Ryan van der Walt, Shana Markram, Alice Henning, Anja Lock, Joy Termoshuizen, Tracy Terick, Lana Berger, Mariette van der Linde de Klerk and David Clive Horne. The judge ruled that the posts made by the defaulters and confessors — Le Roux, Reeve, Richardson, Van der Walt, Markram, Henning, Lock, Termoshuizen, Terick and Berger — constituted hate speech, harassment and unfair discrimination against people of the Chinese race and contravened sections 10, 11 and 7 of the Equality Act.
The matter against Horne was dismissed with costs. Horne’s Facebook post — “Personally I say wipe them out – I’d be the first to be there” — he said in testimony was directed not at Chinese people as a whole but at the “gangs killing the donkeys”.The TCA’s legal representative, attorney Joyce Nam-Ford, said the association would consider further legal options against the findings regarding Horne.
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