SAHRC pleased with action taken against Edward Zuma in hate speech matter
The Human Rights Commission says the action taken against Edward Zuma shows how those who act with impunity know that there will be consequences.
JOHANNESBURG - The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) says the action taken against Edward Zuma shows how those who act with impunity know that there will be consequences.
In a settlement agreement reached on Tuesday, the former president's son committed to apologising to the nation within seven days for utterances made in an open letter.
Zuma described ministers Derek Hanekom and Pravin Gordhan as "stooges of white monopoly capital" who view black African natives as merely the k-word.
Within the coming days, Zuma must submit his unconditional apology to South Africans for what the Equality Court has found to have been hate speech in the open letter.
Amongst the things that were penned, include how he believed Gordhan and Hanekom “bought the apartheid lie that their skin and race puts them as a higher level and caste than the native African majority.”
#EdwardZuma called Gordhan “one of the most corrupt cadres of the ANC who thinks African Natives are no better than just being sugar cane cutters who must be forever subservient to a master like him for sustenance.” ZN pic.twitter.com/Avr004TQS0
— EWN Reporter (@ewnreporter) May 22, 2018
#EdwardZuma The amount that has been settled on is R60 000. The lawyer representing SAHRC Pavershree Padayachee says they would like the payment to be made to a poor school in Howick. Zuma’s lawyer Ayanda Mkhwanazi says they had planned to donate to Ohlange High School in Inanda.
— EWN Reporter (@ewnreporter) May 22, 2018
Human Right’s Commission chair Bongani Majola says they are pleased with the outcome.
“We have to treat other people with dignity irrespective of the positions they hold.”
Zuma will also have to split his R60,000 damages fee to two impoverished schools in Howick and Inanda.
(Edited by Refilwe Pitjeng)
