Equality Court Judgement – Umlazi*
*(5 April 2024 – Case no. 39/2021))*
Applicant: *Narendh Ganesh*
Respondent: *Khehla Mngwengwe*
Verdict – *GUILTY OF HATE SPEECH*
Sentence: *Unconditional public apology to the Indian Community of South Africa*
*NICSA* Leader secures *Hate Speech Judgement against *EFF* member
Judgement was handed down in the Umlazi Equality Court today 5 April 2024 on the matter of Hate Speech.
In the matter brought before the Honourable Court by *Narendh Ganesh, leader of the National Independent Congress of South Africa – NICSA* against *EFF member, Khehla Mngwengwe*, the court found that Mngwengwe was *GUILTY* of promoting and perpetuating *Hate Speech* against the Indian community.
This matter arose as a result of Mngwengwe posting a racist and inciting post on social media threatening violence against the Indian community and referring to them as *Kulis* in the aftermath of the *2021 July unrest*, especially in KwaZulu- Natal
After 2 and a half years of persistence and over 18 court appearances, I am glad that this matter has finally come to fruition.
The Court ordered as per my request that Mngwengwe make an *unconditional and unequivocal apology to the Indian Community of South Africa on social media within 30 days* I preferred not to ask for a jail term or a monetary fine as a gesture of reconciliation and the fostering of better race relations between all the people of this country.
Despite my request for *mediation* prior to the commencement of the trial with Mngwengwe, he *refused* such a gesture, hence the trial proceeded.
While this trial had stretched my resources in terms of finances, time and personal risk, I believe it was imperative that a caution had to be sent out to every citizen that *South Africa is a country of people – and not races*
We need social cohesion now more than ever before and we must not allow the dark history of the July 2021 Unrest foreshadow the great need to become patriots and true citizens of this country in a common brotherhood.
I would like to thank the great support lent by many, the financial resources offered by some and the also the directors of private security companies who, on their own volition, offered me personal security inside and outside of court and who continue to do so currently.
Although at the end I argued the matter myself, I would like to express a special gratitude and heartfelt thanks to legal counsel whose advice was invaluable.
Let us all make this work-in-progress called South Africa happen in the absence of hate, animosity and racial divide so we all can live in co-existence, in peace and indeed in harmony.