The Durban Equality Court is unhappy with the "whims and fancies" of the SA Human Rights Commission in the hate speech case against Edward Zuma.

The commission in Tuesday asked the court to indefinitely postpone the matter to allow it to file a replying affidavit to President Jacob Zuma's son's response to the claim it brought against him.

But magistrate Irfaan Khallil took a firm stand against the request.

"So if we postpone the matter indefinitely as suggested and the SAHRC decides not to settle down for the next six months or one year‚ so the matter is still pending and there is nothing within the regulations or Act where I have the power to set it down.

"So we have a matter that unnecessarily drags on depending on the whims and fancies and convenience of the litigants‚" he said.

Khallil said he was trying to tie up the fact that the SAHRC took "the quite drastic step in terms of its mandate" by proceeding to the Equality Court instead of mediation but was asking for the matter to be postponed indefinitely.

Khallil also questioned why the commission would need more time to draw up its replying affidavit when there was "very little" to dispute in Zuma's responding papers.

The commission wants the court to find Zuma guilty of hate speech and fine him R100‚ 000 for an open letter to former cabinet ministers Derek Hanekom and Pravin Gordon.

In the letter Zuma described the pair as "anti majoritarian sell-out minority in the ANC who have brazenly and unabashedly spoken out against (President) Zuma on various white monopoly media platforms”.

He said Gordhan was one of the most corrupt cadres who‚ like Mahatma Gandhi‚ “sees black South Africans as low class k*****s” while Hanekom “was no better than a vile dog trained to maul our black skin".

In his response‚ Zuma said the commission based its hate speech allegation against him on the chairperson‚ Bongani Majola's "personal opinion".

The commission's attorney Padayachee on Tuesday told the court that it had been unable to file its replying affidavit as Majola had been out of the country. However after consulting with the commission's national office‚ Padayachee said the document would be filed by February 17.

Khallil postponed the directions hearing to May 22 and reserved judgment on costs for Tuesday's proceedings.

He said while both parties had consented to paying their own costs‚ the court could use its judicial discretion to make an order.

Khallil explained that he would take into account that Tuesday's delay was a result of the commission's failure to file its replying affidavit.