Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa wants racists to be treated as social outcasts while Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development John Jeffery says those who utter words of hate must stand in the dock of a criminal court.
Speaking during a debate on racism in the National Assembly at Parliament on Tuesday‚ Mthethwa quoted a warning attributed to trade unionist Vuyisile Mini who went to the gallows uttering the phrase 52 years ago.
“We should be warning racists in our midst basobha indoda emnyama racists (‘beware the black man‚ racists’)‚” Mthethwa said.
Also read: Parliament has become ‘dummy chamber’‚ says Steenhuisen
“Let us all ensure that racists are not protected but isolated as social outcasts…
“If they are in your organisation‚ be it political‚ religious‚ business etc‚ a solution is to expel them...”
Mthethwa acknowledged those who held racist views are a minority.
Also read: Individuals will be held to account for racism - Minister Mapisa-Nqakula
He said: “We should not allow them (racists) to dictate a pace of our transformation agenda because South Africans in their majority are not racists”.
Jeffery said he supported criminalisation of racism.
“…We find an increasing number of incidents of racist expression by white people ranging from assaulting a black woman in a largely white residential area because she was assumed to be a prostitute; to urinating on a black man; to the outrageous comments we find on social media‚” he said.
He added that apologising for making racist remarks is no longer enough.
“It seems that‚ in spite of the public outrage from both black and white South Africans to the recent racist utterances‚ these utterances continue. People seem to think they can just say sorry and then carry on as if nothing happened.”
Jeffery said the proposed Prevention and Combating of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill‚ which initially excluded hate speech from the ambit of the Bill because of the sensitivities and complexities involved‚ needs to be adjusted.
“The events we have been witnessing since January this year highlighted the need to include hate speech‚ as a criminal offence‚ in the Bill.”
He said the Bill will provide that any person who‚ by any means‚ in public‚ intentionally advocates hatred of any other person‚ or group of persons‚ based on race in a way that incites others to harm a person or group of people‚ whether or not they are harmed‚ will be guilty of the offence of hate speech.
Harm is defined to include damage to property – as economic harm — in addition to physical harm. It also includes “mental or psychological” harm.
Jeffrey said the Bill would be one of the major building blocks in building a society free of racism‚ hate speech and prejudice.
It will be released soon for public comment‚ before it is introduced into Parliament.
Intolerance of racism mounts in Parliament
Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa wants racists to be treated as social outcasts while Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development John Jeffery says those who utter words of hate must stand in the dock of a criminal court.
Speaking during a debate on racism in the National Assembly at Parliament on Tuesday‚ Mthethwa quoted a warning attributed to trade unionist Vuyisile Mini who went to the gallows uttering the phrase 52 years ago.
“We should be warning racists in our midst basobha indoda emnyama racists (‘beware the black man‚ racists’)‚” Mthethwa said.
Also read: Parliament has become ‘dummy chamber’‚ says Steenhuisen
“Let us all ensure that racists are not protected but isolated as social outcasts…
“If they are in your organisation‚ be it political‚ religious‚ business etc‚ a solution is to expel them...”
Mthethwa acknowledged those who held racist views are a minority.
Also read: Individuals will be held to account for racism - Minister Mapisa-Nqakula
He said: “We should not allow them (racists) to dictate a pace of our transformation agenda because South Africans in their majority are not racists”.
Jeffery said he supported criminalisation of racism.
“…We find an increasing number of incidents of racist expression by white people ranging from assaulting a black woman in a largely white residential area because she was assumed to be a prostitute; to urinating on a black man; to the outrageous comments we find on social media‚” he said.
He added that apologising for making racist remarks is no longer enough.
“It seems that‚ in spite of the public outrage from both black and white South Africans to the recent racist utterances‚ these utterances continue. People seem to think they can just say sorry and then carry on as if nothing happened.”
Jeffery said the proposed Prevention and Combating of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill‚ which initially excluded hate speech from the ambit of the Bill because of the sensitivities and complexities involved‚ needs to be adjusted.
“The events we have been witnessing since January this year highlighted the need to include hate speech‚ as a criminal offence‚ in the Bill.”
He said the Bill will provide that any person who‚ by any means‚ in public‚ intentionally advocates hatred of any other person‚ or group of persons‚ based on race in a way that incites others to harm a person or group of people‚ whether or not they are harmed‚ will be guilty of the offence of hate speech.
Harm is defined to include damage to property – as economic harm — in addition to physical harm. It also includes “mental or psychological” harm.
Jeffrey said the Bill would be one of the major building blocks in building a society free of racism‚ hate speech and prejudice.
It will be released soon for public comment‚ before it is introduced into Parliament.
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