The Criminalization of Hate Speech and Hate Crimes

This week, oral and written submissions were presented for the second round of public hearings on the Prevention and Combating of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill in Parliament. In this round of submissions, many organizations agreed that the Bill needs to define harm more specifically to avoid the failures of the Domestic Violence Act, stakeholders have raised differing concerns surrounding the interpretation of the Bill when it comes to protected speech, the use of criminal sanctions, the rehabilitation process and the advocacy of hatred. The bill held its first public hearings at the end of March 2022, four years after the bill was first introduced to the National Assembly. Parliament cited that the 2019 national elections had delayed the process. The first hearing highlighted the concerns surrounding the crime category, the police reporting on hate crimes/hate speech and no adequate costing of the bill. So far, how is it protecting citizens and what more does it need to deal effectively with hate speech?

Guest: Thandi Smith - Head of Programmes at Media Monitoring Africa

Guest: Ernst van Zyl - Campaign Officer at AfriForum

Guest: Kim Lithgow – Member of the Hate Crimes Working Group