Suspended Patriotic Alliance PA Deputy President Kenny Kunene has lost his appeal against an Equality Court ruling that ordered him to apologise for calling Economic Freedom Fighters EFF leader Julius Malema a cockroach.
Kunene used the word repeatedly during an interview with eNCA in 2021, alongside little frog and criminal. Malema subsequently approached the Equality Court to declare Kunenes use of the words as hate speech.
The court ruled in Malemas favour in January 2023 and ordered the PA leader to apologise. It also interdicted him from using the words again and referred his utterances to the Director of Public Prosecutions for further investigation.
Kenny Kunenes setback in Malema cockroach caseKunene launched an appeal at the Johannesburg high court but has now lost with costs.
In a ruling on Tuesday 5 August, Judge Wilson J, with Judges Mfenyane J and Wentzel AJ agreeing, found that Kunenes utterances were indeed hate speech.
He once again ordered Kunene to apologise and retract unconditionally within one month. He further interdicted him from describing Malema as a cockroach in the future.
This is because that conduct falls squarely within the textual definition of hate speech outlined in section 10 of the Equality Act, and because that text, read purposively in its statutory setting, was in our view designed, at least in part, to prevent political speech in South Africa from degenerating into an act of mutual dehumanisation, the judge said.
He added that the consequences of such dehumanisation are evident in history, including genocides where the word cockroach was used.
EFF reactsIn a statement on Tuesday, the EFF welcomed the ruling while taking potshots at Kunene and PA President Gayton McKenzie .
The EFF has always maintained that Kenny Kunene, alongside his political leader, are a representation of the failure of the correctional services system in South Africa to rehabilitate convicts, it said.