Hate speech charges for incoming Minister

A criminal complaint has been made against incoming Sports, Arts & Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie for ‘incitement of xenophobic violence, hate speech and intimidation’. Moneyweb reports that the complaint, lodged by Advocate Simba Chitando on behalf of the Zimbabwean Exemption Permit Holder Association (Zepha), says the leader of the Patriotic Alliance party incited South Africans to ‘murder vulnerable foreign nationals in hospital and, by implication, outside hospital’. ‘McKenzie intentionally, for admitted political reasons, communicated his desire to harm foreign nationals receiving treatment in SA hospitals in a manner that could cause their death, in public broadcasts on national television,’ said the complaint. It adds that this violated the Prevention and Combatting of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Act. This came shortly after a video of then Limpopo Health MEC Phophi Ramathuba verbally attacking a Zimbabwean patient for coming to SA rather than staying in Zimbabwe for treatment, claiming that foreign nationals were overburdening the healthcare system. McKenzie later told eNCA: ‘If there is a South African, Zimbabwean and Mozambican patient on oxygen and I see a SA patient born and bred in SA, I will turn the oxygen off so that the South African can live.’ This prompted the Progressive Health Forum (PHF) to call for criminal sanctions against those who incite murder. PHF convener Dr Aslam Dasoo told News24 that both Ramathuba and McKenzie’s comments were the language of ethnic cleansing and genocide.

This is not the first time McKenzie has attracted the attention of human rights groups for his stance on immigrants. Moneyweb reports that public interest law centre SECTION27 last year condemned comments he made seeking to deny children of illegal foreign nationals places in SA schools, reminding him that basic education is a fundamental human right enshrined in the Constitution. The Immigration Act does not debar children of illegal immigrants for enrolment at schools in SA. McKenzie, a former criminal-turned-politician, is accused by Zepha of targeting Zimbabweans with hateful comments that constitute incitement to violence. It says McKenzie’s comments also fall foul of the Intimidation Act.