Laying of criminal charges
Earlier today the SA Jewish Board of Deputies, through Ian Levitt Attorneys, laid criminal charges at the Sandton Police Station against three individuals who posted threatening and grossly antisemitic comments against the Jewish community last week. The three against whom the charges were laid were Muhammad Hattia, Tameez Seedat and Matome Letsoalo.
Letsoalo’s series of tweets included the statement, “@sajbd The #Holocaust Will be like A Picnic When we are done with all you Zionist Bastards. F*ck All Of You”. In another tweet he described Jews as vermin, who Hitler should have exterminated completely.
The offending comments by Hattia and Seedat were posted on a whatsapp group devoted to the buying and selling of footwear. After the administrator of the group refused to allow further political comment relating to the Middle East on this site, Hattia wrote, “F*ck you jew pricks. Fat nosed f*cks …. I hope you and your family die. Hitler f*cked up he should’ve killed you all”
Seedat posted a similar comment afterwards, in which he noted: “You f*cken Jew / Zionist will see your time coming. Make our fellow brothers and sisters suffer, but what you don’t understand is that worse will be coming your way”
SAJBD National Chairman, Shaun Zagnoev said that the unusually virulent and overtly threatening nature of the comments posted was the reason why the SAJBD had decided to lodge criminal charges. “It is totally unacceptable that anyone in South Africa should be defamed, demeaned and threatened in such horrific terms on account of their religion, race, ethnicity, or other such grounds. We are appalled by the sheer depths of the hatred expressed against our Jewish community by these three individuals and will do whatever is necessary to make them accountable”.
The SAJBD calls on all political and faith based leadership to stand together against all forms of hate. We cannot stand idly whilst individuals blatantly flout our hard won constitutional rights.
Statement issued by Charisse Zeifert, South African Jewish Board of Deputies, 28 June 2018
