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South Africa Court: Apartheid-Era Flag Is Hate Speech

Anita Powell

   JOHANNESBURG - South Africa's Equality Court this week ruled it illegal
   to "gratuitously" display the apartheid-era flag, in a move that
   supporters say may soothe South Africa's continuing racial divides 25
   years after the end of apartheid.

   For 66 years, through the entirety of the hated, hateful apartheid
   system, this orange, white and blue banner symbolized South Africa. It
   was replaced by a multicolored flag at the beginning of democracy in
   1994. These days, the old flag is closely tied to white nationalist
   groups and can be seen, occasionally, displayed in venues patronized by
   white nationalists.

   And so, critics argue, it is much more than just a flag. That was the
   basis of the argument made by the Nelson Mandela Foundation, which
   argued that the display of the flag symbolizes "a pining for the
   killing, the torture, the abductions, a melancholia for the
   discrimination, the death squads, the curfews and the horrific
   atrocities committed under the flag."

   In a firm judgment this week, Equality Court Judge Phineas Mojapelo
   agreed, ruling against what he called "gratuitous" display of the flag
   and saying it amounted to hate speech, which is illegal in South
   Africa.

   In his ruling, he noted the old flag could be displayed in cases that
   serve the public interest, like artistic or academic settings.

   The ruling African National Congress hailed the ruling as "a victory,
   not just for us but for all South Africans," and compared it to another
   controversial symbol: the Nazi swastika, which is illegal to display in
   Germany.

   And South African comedian Daniel Friedman, on Twitter, invoked
   arguments that the flag is obscene by comparing it to the penis. The
   male organ is often depicted in artistic and academic settings. But, he
   said, "it's illegal to whip it out and wave it around, and if you have
   a problem with that, there's something wrong with you."

   But, says Mandela Foundation CEO Sello Hatang, the old flag conjures
   painful memories for many South Africans. Hatang, who was born in 1975,
   and like about 80 percent of South Africans, is black, told VOA about
   his earliest associations with the old flag.

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