EFF: 'Kenny Kunene is a case study for the failures of the correctional services system'

“Kunene is a case study for the failures of the correctional services system.”

This was the EFF's reaction to the Johannesburg high court finding businessman and Patriotic Alliance deputy president Kunene guilty of hate speech and ordering him to apologise and retract his “cockroach” and “a little frog” slur in reference to EFF leader Julius Malema. 

The court ordered Kunene to issue an unconditional public apology to Malema which must include a retraction of the statement itself.

It said Kunene's statement, made during an interview with eNCA in November 2021, when he referred to Malema as “a cockroach”, “little frog” and criminal, “are hereby declared to constitute hate speech” as defined by the Equality Act.

The statement of apology and retraction must be made within 30 days from the date of the order, which was made on Tuesday.

The EFF said Kunene's comments were not only hateful but were not considerate of the historical impact of derogatory terms used to refer to human beings in inciting violence and genocide.

“Genocides and hate crimes against fellow human beings begin at the point of dehumanisation,” said the red berets. 

It said the high court had correctly found there was no retaliatory justification for Kunene's comments and that he sought to incite hate and harm towards Malema. 

“The EFF hopes this judgment will serve the rehabilitating purpose the prison system failed to achieve with Kunene as an individual.

“Kunene is a case study for the failures of the correctional services system, and we hope this corrective judgment will assist him to become a semblance of a respectable member of society.”

Kunene said he would appeal the verdict, saying it was hypocritical of Malema to want to insult others but not to be insulted himself. 

“It was truly rich of Julius Malema to take me to the Equality Court when he so proudly sings 'kill the Boer, kill the farmer', which somehow isn’t hate speech. For me as a layman that is incitement to violence against a minority ethnic group,” Kunene said.

“Malema spews violence out of his mouth, over and over. It was shameless of Malema to take me to court after calling [public enterprises minister] Pravin Gordhan a 'dog' that must be kicked so the master can come out.”

In 2010, Malema called Helen Zille, then DA leader, a cockroach, and apologised in 2015 after he was called a cockroach by former National Assembly speaker Baleka Mbete, who also apologised to him. 

Malema accepted Mbete’s apology and said: “I want to send an apology to the leader of the DA for having called her a cockroach myself, when I was very young.

“I now know what it feels like to be called a cockroach.”