Durban — A Durban man has been ordered to make an unconditional and unequivocal public apology to the Indian community following a racist social media message he posted in 2021.
The Equality Court in Umlazi on Friday ruled that Khehla Mngwengwe was guilty of hate speech and that he should make the apology within 30 days of the ruling.
The message followed a period of violent unrest in Durban and Gauteng in which people died. Mngwengwe posted a social media message in which he made threats of violence against the Indian community and used a racist derogatory term.
That’s when Narendh Ganesh, the leader of the National Independent Congress of South Africa (NICSA) took the matter to the Equality Court in Durban from where it was later transferred to the Umlazi Equality Court.
Ganesh told the Sunday Tribune that at the time he couldn't just sit back while Mngwengwe was inciting violence.
“That was in the aftermath of the July unrest and my area was attacked. I was actually shot at. My house has still got bullet holes in it. So it was a very sensitive matter. That posting was a direct intimation for violence and also derogatory in terms of the racial use of the word c**lies. I felt that it was imperative that such an outburst, irrespective if it was an emotional one, should not be aired on social media because it has the propensity to incite other people to action.”
At the time Mngwengwe was an employee of Toyota and there were calls for his employer to take disciplinary action against him. He is no longer with the company although the Sunday Tribune could not confirm if it was as a result of the hate speech.
Attempts to get comment from Mngwengwe were unsuccessful.
Both Mngwengwe and Ganesh represented themselves in court. Ganesh said the option of mediation rather than a trial was made to Mngwengwe.
“In the hope that maybe we could come to an understanding over what was posted. I would have taken into cognisance the fact that it might have been emotional, albeit derogatory at the same time.
He said there could have been an out-of-court settlement but Mngwengwe was “adamant” and “not remorseful”.
There was no interaction between the two men after the ruling because Ganesh said he had to rush from court. However, he did not view the ruling as a victory.
“Our country is in a horrible space at the moment in terms of race relations and I would hope people would take cognisance of the fact that this ruling should be a warning not to get involved in defamatory or bigoted racial outbursts,” he said.
Ganesh said he would be closely monitoring Mngwengwe’s social media accounts to see if he issues an apology.
Sunday Tribune