Farm murders Hate Speech investigation: DA welcomes SAHRC’s astonishing U-turn

19 August 2020

The Democratic Alliance (DA) welcomes the U-turn by the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) on its decision to not investigate social media posts glorifying farm attacks and farm murders as reported to it by the DA.

This comes after the Commission claimed on Tuesday that it did not have the capacity to trace the individuals who post openly on social media and that it lacked the jurisdiction to investigate these matters.

This, despite the fact that they have investigated and charged numerous citizens for Hate Speech, taking them through the Equality Court to completion. To our knowledge, none of those found guilty actually called for the killing of our fellow citizens.

This overnight turnaround follows pressure from the DA and mass outrage by the public who exposed the Commission’s contrary reaction to posts glorifying farm murders compared to other highly publicised cases where individuals posted racially fueled comments targeted at specific groups.

Two of the SAHRC’s eight National Commissioners have since contacted the DA to apologise for the statement sent to us by their Western Cape office.

They have informed us that the matter has been taken out of the hands of the Western Cape office and elevated to the Commission’s national team.

In the letter to the DA, the Western Cape office admitted that it had wide discretion whether or not to accept a complaint. Yet those who work there made it clear that they chose not to represent the families of the murder victims of farmers and farm workers

Their bosses, the Commissioners, have also indicated that the SAHRC would be opening at least one criminal case with the South African Police Service (SAPS).

The DA trusts that the Commission will henceforth take its mandate seriously and investigate the flagrant abuse of human rights and hate speech specifically regarding farm attacks and murders.

There should be no place in a non-racial South Africa for violence being instigated and glorified against certain groups.

At the very least these instances of vitriolic and hateful utterances should be investigated, and guilty parties should suffer the consequences.

Stopping hate speech in its tracks is the first small step in overcoming the deep divides still prevalent in South Africa.

Issued by Dianne Kohler Barnard, DA Shadow Minister of State Security, 19 August 2020