The equality court has declared comments made by two BLF members about the Driehoek school tragedy hate speech and ordered them to pay damages to the families of four pupils killed when a walkway bridge collapsed.
Judge Ratha Mokgoatlheng on Wednesday also ordered Lindsay Maasdorp and Zwelakhe Dubasi to make a written apology within 30 days.
Roydon Olckers, Marli Currie, Jandre Steyn and Marnus Nagel died when a concrete structure connecting buildings at the Vanderbijlpark school collapsed on February 1 2019. Twenty other pupils were injured.
The case was brought to court by the bereaved families and Solidarity, who argued the pair had made comments celebrating the children's deaths and which propagated racial hatred.
The R50,000 in damages, to be paid jointly by the two BLF members to each of the four families, is for impairment of the right to equality, dignity, for emotional and psychological pain, suffering, humiliation and degradation caused, the judge ruled.
Solidarity CEO Dirk Hermann, commenting on the ruling, said on Thursday: “Racial hatred must not just be left there, because when it is left, it becomes the norm. We must not allow racial hatred to be normalised. The statements of the BLF were a hate speech low point and if we left it there, we basically say it is acceptable.
“This ruling is sending out a message to other public figures [too], saying that there are consequences when they victimise innocent victims.”
TimesLIVE
Hate speech: BLF duo must pay R50,000 to families of school tragedy
Image: Iavan Pijoos
The equality court has declared comments made by two BLF members about the Driehoek school tragedy hate speech and ordered them to pay damages to the families of four pupils killed when a walkway bridge collapsed.
Judge Ratha Mokgoatlheng on Wednesday also ordered Lindsay Maasdorp and Zwelakhe Dubasi to make a written apology within 30 days.
Roydon Olckers, Marli Currie, Jandre Steyn and Marnus Nagel died when a concrete structure connecting buildings at the Vanderbijlpark school collapsed on February 1 2019. Twenty other pupils were injured.
The case was brought to court by the bereaved families and Solidarity, who argued the pair had made comments celebrating the children's deaths and which propagated racial hatred.
The R50,000 in damages, to be paid jointly by the two BLF members to each of the four families, is for impairment of the right to equality, dignity, for emotional and psychological pain, suffering, humiliation and degradation caused, the judge ruled.
Solidarity CEO Dirk Hermann, commenting on the ruling, said on Thursday: “Racial hatred must not just be left there, because when it is left, it becomes the norm. We must not allow racial hatred to be normalised. The statements of the BLF were a hate speech low point and if we left it there, we basically say it is acceptable.
“This ruling is sending out a message to other public figures [too], saying that there are consequences when they victimise innocent victims.”
TimesLIVE
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