Hate Speech Bill will undermine Freedom of Speech

5 October 2021

The DA last week submitted our objections to the Prevention and Combating of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill. If the issues identified in the Bill are not addressed during the legislative process, this Bill will have a chilling effect on freedom of speech.

The DA does not support the Bill in its current format. While we acknowledge the intention of combating hate crimes and speech as laudable, the Bill contains a multitude of legal flaws that require correction.

The Bill in its current from is unlikely to pass Constitutional muster as the definition of ‘hate speech’ is too broad, and does not meet the requirements set out in the recent Qwelane judgement. It needs to state that there must be a clear intention to: (i) be harmful or to incite harm; and (ii) promote or propagate hatred.

Furthermore, the DA holds the view that the ‘hate crimes’ portion of the Bill should be abandoned, and instead be used as an aggravating circumstance in sentencing. In its current form, the Bill fails to address the root causes of prejudice in our society, it’s merely a cure to the symptoms rather than the cause of crimes motivated by hate.

The DA will continue to engage this Bill throughout the legislative process as it is imperative that we protect South Africans’ right to freedom of speech.

Issued by Glynnis Breytenbach, DA Shadow Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, 5 October 2021