By: Bianca ‘BB’ Binase
Patriotic Alliance Deputy President Kenny Kunene will appeal the ruling of the Gauteng High Court which found that he committed hate speech when he called EFF leader Julius Malema a “cockroach”. On Tuesday (5 August) The Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg turned down Kunene’s appeal against Equality Court finding in 2023 that his use of the word “cockroach”, to refer to Malema amounted to hate speech.
Kunene had called Malema a “little frog” and an “irritating cockroach” during a television broadcast in 2021. In 2023, the Equality Court ruled that Kunene had committed hate speech by using these words and ordered that he be referred to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) for criminal prosecution. Kunene appealed the ruling in the High Court in Johannesburg. On Tuesday, the Court mostly agreed with the Equality Court, but found that only the word “cockroach” was hate speech. The court also ruled Kunene should not be referred to the NPA and ruled that an apology is sufficient sanction.
Judge Stuart Wilson, who wrote the judgment on behalf of the full bench, in the opening of his appeal judgment, remarked that the central question in this appeal is whether one political leader who calls another political leader a “cockroach” in the course of a televised discussion of the outcome of a local election commits an act of hate speech. “We conclude that he does. This is because that conduct falls squarely within the textual definition of “hate speech” outlined in section 10 of the Equality Act.”
Kunene and the Patriotic Alliance had argued that the phrases did not amount to hate speech because they were a personal attack on Malema and not an attack on a particular group. The court upheld the Equality Court’s ruling, but indicated that only the word “cockroach” was hate speech, and that Kunene should not be referred to the NPA but should instead issue an unconditional written and oral public apology within a month.
However, Kunene told Africa News Global that while he respected the decision of the Gauteng High Court, he won’t be apologising to Malema and will instead approach the Supreme Court of Appeal. “I respect the decision of the court, however I will not be apologising to Malema as I’m of the view that the Supreme Court of Appeal might reach a different conclusion. Kunene said he is surprised that the courts have not sanctioned Malema for singing controversial song: “Kill the boer, kill the farmer”, a song that could be interpreted as encouraging the killing of white people. “Malema has also been dragged to court for saying “hit the dog until the owner comes out”, referring to the late Pravin Gordhan. So Malema always makes these inflammatory statements that encourage violence against particular race groups but always gets away with it. This is highly surprising,” said Kunene.
