For Immediate Release: Friday 15 June 2012

The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) on Tuesday 12 June 2012 issued a court order confirming the admission of the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (CASAC) as amicus curiae (friend of the court) in the hate speech case against Julius Malema.

 The Legal Resources Centre (LRC) is acting on behalf of CASAC. The case is expected to be on the roll later this year.

 Malema is appealing the Equality Court’s ruling in September 2011 which declared the “shoot the boer” song as hate speech.

 CASAC’s seeks to argue that the Equality Court’s process for determining whether the singing of a particular song or the uttering of particular speech may legitimately be prohibited or penalised was flawed because it did not adequately consider the relevant speech in its proper context. Context, in this regard, includes the historical and constitutional context.

 The Equality Court understood the concept of a “minority” in an inappropriately narrow fashion. A definition of the word “minority” must include factors other than numbers, and may encompass a group that is in the numerical minority, but which finds itself in a minority-like position.

 CASAC believes the Equality Court failed to strike an appropriate balance between section 10 (right to human dignity) and section 16 (freedom of expression) of the Constitution. Such a balance could be struck in this case without causing any undue limitation on the right to freedom of expression.

 CASAC’s founding affidavit is available here.

 ENDS.

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NOTE: For more information please contact:

• Khumbulani Mpofu, LRC's Communications and Marketing Officer, at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 011 838 6601/083 695 2025.

• Sarah Sephton, LRC’s Regional Director, Grahamstown, 046 622 9230/083 410 7686

• CASAC Executive Secretary  Lawson Naidoo 073 158 5736 

 The LRC is an independent, non-profit, public interest law clinic, which uses law as an instrument of justice to provide legal services for the vulnerable.

CASAC is an individual membership non-profit organisation that seeks to advance the South Africa Constitution as a platform for democratic politics and the transformation of society, and which believes in the advancement of a society whose values are based on the core principles of the Constitution.