Human Rights Commission asked to probe racist Facebook rant

The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) was on Tuesday “called on…to probe hate speech” after a racist Facebook rant‚ that included the k-word‚ “sparked anger on social media platforms”.

The South African National Civic Organisation also said Matthew Theunissen “ought to be registered in the National Register of Racist Offenders that Sanco has proposed should be established as part of tightening legislation against racism”

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Theunissen sparked online outrage when he took aim at Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula’s suspension of the privileges of federations from bidding for international sporting events when he posted: “So no more sporting events for South Africa.. I’ve never been more proud than to say our government are a bunch of K******.. yes I said it so go f*** yourselves you black f***ing c***s.”

Sanco’s Jabu Mahlangu said this comment showed that “vile racist indoctrination has sown seeds of hatred that have blurred in certain section of our youth the vision of a united‚ non-racial‚ non-sexist‚ democratic South Africa”.

“Such offensive racial outbursts not only undermine reconciliation‚ nation building and social cohesion but are abhorrent‚ provocative and polarise racial relations.”

Also read: Sanco: ‘No bail for Facebook racist’

Mahlangu noted that among “those angered by Theunissen’s comment” were some who “have managed to find his CV containing personal details and have threatened to find him and take matters into their own hands”.

Sanco’s statement did not distance itself from the threats and went on to claim that “according to the CV‚ the 26-year-old lives in Cape Town‚ has a master’s degree in environmental management from Stellenbosch University and currently works in water resource management”.

– TMG Digital