A policeman who advocated white genocide on Julius Malema’s Facebook page has been given an expensive lesson in hate speech.

After being fired and failing with an unfair dismissal claim‚ Juda Dagane has been handed another defeat — and a costs order — in the Johannesburg Labour Court.

Dagane‚ a former warrant officer‚ was the target of withering criticism from Judge Anton Steenkamp‚ who called his Facebook posts “despicable”.

Malema‚ now leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters‚ was president of the ANC Youth League in 2011 when Dagane commented on his Facebook page‚ saying: “We must introduce black apartheid. Whites have no room in our heart and mind.

“When the Black Messiah [Nelson Mandela] dies‚ we’ll teach white some lesson. We’ll commit a genocide on them.”

Confronted with his posts‚ Dagane denied making them and said his Facebook account had been hacked. But Joyce Nkopane‚ the Safety and Security Sectoral Bargaining Council commissioner who heard his unfair dismissal claim‚ rejected his story and Steenkamp said she was right to do so.

“[She] found on a balance of probabilities that the [Dagane] was the author of the offensive and racist remarks; that he had posted them; and that [they] offended the Constitution as they were discriminatory and constituted hate speech‚” said the judge.

In his Labour Court review application‚ Dagane argued that Nkopane had subjected him to “retaliatory justice” because he had complained about the bargaining council‚ but Steenkamp said he produced no evidence of this.

In fact‚ he said‚ the review application was “meritless”‚ and ordered Dagane to pay the costs of the bargaining council‚ Nkopane and the Minister of Police.

“He contributed to the scourge of racism and racial hatred that‚ most unfortunately‚ still persists amongst some individuals in our non-racial democracy. He has shown no remorse‚” said the judge.

Steenkamp said it was “alarming” that Malema had taken no action when Dagane posted the remarks on his Facebook page.