PRESS RELEASE: 'Hate Speech Bill' Redraft Will Protect Religious Freedom

Over 400 senior religious leaders attended a series of meetings in five cities across South Africa this week. These meetings discussed the potential threats to religious freedom posed by the Hate Speech Bill and the CRL Rights Commission’s proposal to regulate religion. The meetings took place in Port Elizabeth, Durban, Cape Town, Johannesburg and Bloemfontein and were organised by Freedom of Religion South Africa (FOR SA).“We fully support the Government’s view that genuine hate crimes should be severely sanctioned”, said Michael Swain, Executive Director of FOR SA. “However, the Bill’s current hate speech provisions have the potential to shut down important dialogue and to entrench a polarisation of viewpoints.”The meeting in Cape Town was attended by Deputy Minister of Justice, John Jeffery, who addressed delegates and acknowledged that the hate speech provisions in the Bill are “over-broad”. Jeffery affirmed the constitutional right to religious freedom and assured delegates that their right to express their convictions freely will be protected, as long as this does not amount to an incitement to violence. He said that his Department had received over 76 000 submissions and these would inform the re-drafting process, which would take into account the concerns raised by the religious community. The Bill will then be sent back to Cabinet and introduced to Parliament (probably) in the second half of the year, when there will be further opportunity for public comment.Religious leaders also expressed concern about the proposal by the CRL Rights Commission to comprehensively regulate religion in South Africa. This would entail the compulsory registration and licensing of all religious practitioners and places of worship by State-sanctioned regulatory bodies.“We recognize that the Commission has identified legitimate concerns regarding unlawful practices and harmful behaviour, but there are existing laws in place to deal with these problems”, said FOR SA Advocate Nadene Badenhorst, who pointed out that the Department of Health had recently obtained an interdict to curtail the activities of the so-called ‘Prophet of Doom’. “The invasive registration process proposed by the Commission is therefore arguably unconstitutional, unworkable and unnecessary.”FOR SA, who represents over five million people from the faith community, is proposing that the Commission sets up an Ombudsman to ensure a rapid response to complaints of religious abuse. They further recommend that the Commission facilitates a broad based consultation process to produce a Code of Ethics, which would lead to greater self-regulation and to which all religious leaders and bodies would be encouraged to subscribe. This would strike a balance between the need to protect religious freedom, and an increase in the desired level of peer-to-peer accountability.The deadline for comments on the CRL Rights Commission’s report is 28 February, after consideration of which the report will be referred to Parliament.ENDSIssued by:Freedom of Religion South Africa (FOR SA)forsa.org.zaEnquiries can be addressed to:Michael SwainExecutive Director, FOR SATel: michael.swain@forsa.org.zaCell: 072 270 1217