The Equality Court rejected Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan’s court application that EFF leader Julius Malema be found guilty of hate speech on Thursday morning.
Malema called Gordhan “corrupt” and a “dog of white monopoly capital” last year. Aside from those disputed remarks, Malema also accused him last year of removing black officials from state-owned enterprises.
Gordhan dragged Malema to court over the remarks.
Malema argued Gordhan’s case against him was false and that the Equality Court should not interfere with it.
Judge Roland Sutherland rejected Gordhan’s application, saying that while the remarks are hateful, it does not fall within the specific framework of the Equality Act.
This is the second court ruling on hate speech recently decided in the EFF leader’s favor.
Two weeks ago, the court also ruled in a similar case against the South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef).
Sanef and reporters Barry Bateman, Pauli van Wyk, Adriaan Basson, Max du Preez and Ranjeni Munusamy dragged Malema to court asking that he and his supporters be banned from intimidating journalists in public and on social media platforms.
They argued Malema and his supporters hate speech when talking to journalists, but the court rejected their application.
