HRC gives Pres. Zuma until 4 July to answer to complaints of hate speech
15 June 2016
The Human Rights Commission (HRC) has notified President Jacob Zuma that he has to respond to a complaint of hate speech that the FF Plus had submitted to the HRC, by the 4th July.
The complaint originated from comments made by Pres. Zuma in January last year regarding Jan van Riebeeck and amongst others, said that the country’s problems started with the arrival of Jan van Riebeeck and that despite many struggles, wars, deaths, land grabbing and the expropriation of indigenous people’s political and economic power, had followed this arrival.
In a letter of the HRC it was mentioned that a similar complaint had been added to that of the FF Plus.
Adv. Alberts says this development is encouraging, but it is still a pity that action is only taken after the FF Plus had to request the HRC in April of this year in terms of the PAIA process to provide information as to the reasons why no progress had been made with the investigation.
The FF Plus complaint had already been submitted in January last year, shortly after Pres. Zuma had made the offending remarks.
In the letter to the HRC in April, questions were asked about the commission’s apparent reluctance to investigate Pres. Zuma as not one of a number of complaints against the president had been completed in the past two years.
The FF Plus requested information from the HRC in terms of the Promotion of Access of Information Act (PAIA) which could shed light on the complaints about and investigations of the president. This was after the HR did not even want to respond to the FF Plus’s enquiries about the investigations.
Adv. Alberts said that apart from the responses that the HRC has to provide to the FF plus in terms of PAIA, the HRC also has to answer why it had allowed the president to disregard a clear deadline of 8 May of last year, and without having taken action against him.
After the FF Plus had submitted the complaint in January of last year, the HRC initially indicated that the matter was being investigated and that the president has to respond to the complaint by 8 May. Thereafter nothing happened and the FF Plus’s enquiries were not answered.
Statement issued by Adv. Anton Alberts, FF Plus parliamentary spokesperson: Communication, 15 June 2016
