sahrc sends qwelane’s case to equality court

Nomancotsho Pakade (BTM Link Project coordinator)

SOUTH AFRICA – 05 December 2008: A protest organised by the South African Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (SA GLAAD) yesterday 4 December 2008 outside the head office of the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) yielded positive results according to its organisers.

SA GLAAD and other gay and human rights groups staged this protest to demand a response from SAHRC regarding a complaint lodged by these groups to the commission regarding John Qwelane’s column titled “call me names, but gay is not okay”, published on Sunday Sun in July this year.

Cobus Fourie of SA GLAAD who was also the organiser of the protest said that this silent protest resulted in a meeting with HRC’s CEO Tseliso Thipanyane, who said that the matter will be sent to the Equality Court.

Thipanyane blamed the delayed response to internal processes and protocols within the SAHRC.

He explained that another contributing factor to the delay was that Qwelane’s case was also being investigated by the Press Ombudsman and the South African Press Appeals Panel (SAPAP) therefore impeding HRC’s examining processes as the commission’s regulations prohibit it from conducting a concurrent investigation into the same issue that is before another body.

Meanwhile Fourie highlighted that the Qwelane’s column should be investigated as a form of hate speech that contradicts the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act of 2000.

This Act serves to prevent and prohibit, amongst other things, unfair discrimination, harassment and hate speech.
In his column, which infuriated many gay rights groups in the country, John Qwelane had expressed his sheer hatred of homosexuals saying, among other things, that they are a degradation of values and traditions.
He had also attacked the South African Constitution saying that it is inclusive in such a way that he would not be surprised if it would allow a man to marry a goat.
Qwelane also cited his disregard for the SAHRC saying that he would not apologise to the commission for his views on homosexuality.