Ryan Brothwell<\/a>27 February 2020\n\n\n <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n In light of the seriousness of the racial attitudes harboured by some\n in our society, the time may have come for the government to consider \nestablishing a \u201cregister\u201d of offenders of this type of conduct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This was one of the findings in an Eastern Cape High Court ruling \nthis week, which focused on the case of a woman who reportedly used the \nk-word against a handyman who worked in her retirement village.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe purpose of this register would be to enter the details of those \nwho relentlessly treat the foundational values that underpin our \nconstitution with disdain and who undermine the efforts in building a \ncohesive non-racial society,\u201d the court said in its judgement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis may also serve as a constant reminder to anyone that, to refer \nto other people of a different race with disparaging and degrading \ndescriptions, is contempt to the progressive agenda this nation adopted \nin 1994 in its quest to build a non-racial society.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The issue of racial comments remains an incredibly sensitive topic in\n South Africa with the country\u2019s courts dealing with a number of cases \naround the issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n People who publicly use derogatory words and other expressions of \nracism may face legal sanctions including private claims for defamation \nas well as criminal charges for crimen injuria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite these harsh consequences, there have been numerous incidents \nof people publicly using overtly racist and often taboo words to \ndescribe others, says Hugo Pienaar, a d<\/a><\/strong>irector<\/a> <\/strong>at law firm Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr who was commenting on the issue in 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Constitution prohibits racism through safeguarding every \nperson\u2019s rights to dignity and equality. It also expressly limits the \nright to freedom of expression to exclude the advocacy of hatred which \nis based on race,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRecent cases have emphasised that our society and law is taking a \nzero-tolerance policy towards racism and the use of derogatory \nlanguage.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" South Africa should introduce a register for people who make racist comments: High Court ruling Ryan Brothwell27 February 2020 In light of the seriousness of the racial attitudes harboured by some in our society, the time may have come for … Continue reading