Court Rules “Cockroach” Remark Was Dehumanising

Patriotic Alliance (PA) deputy leader Kenny Kunene has lost his appeal against a court order to apologise for calling Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema a “cockroach” during a 2021 television interview.

The Johannesburg High Court ruled on Tuesday that Kunene’s comments constituted hate speech, as defined under the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act.

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Judge Stuart Wilson, with two judges concurring, ordered Kunene to issue both written and oral apologies to Malema, and prohibited him from using the slur again in the future. The court gave Kunene one month to comply with the order.

Court Upholds Hate Speech Ruling Against Kenny Kunene

This appeal followed a January 2023 judgment in the Equality Court, where Judge Motsamai Makume found Kunene guilty of hate speech. The ruling stemmed from Kunene’s remarks made in November 2021 during a televised debate on coalition negotiations.

In the interview, Kunene lashed out at Malema, saying: “Julius is just an irritating cockroach that now I must deal with publicly,” and “I will deal with this little frog.”

Kunene later claimed his remarks were a response to Malema referring to the PA as a party of amabhantinti (prisoners). He argued that his comments were personal attacks, not directed at a protected group under the act, and therefore fell outside the scope of hate speech legislation.

“Cockroach” Comment Deemed Dehumanising and Hateful

The High Court, however, firmly rejected Kunene’s arguments. Judge Wilson noted that the repeated use of the word “cockroach” carried deep, globally recognised connotations of hate and dehumanisation.

“Whatever Kunene intended, the use of the word ‘cockroach’ is internationally recognised as hateful of those to whom it is directed,” Wilson stated in his judgment. “It is also, if not itself an incitement to do them harm, clearly indicative of an attempt to place them beyond the protection of ordinary human decency.”

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Wilson added that the political use of such terms has historically served as a prelude to acts of violence and hatred.

“The political use of the term ‘cockroach’ is always and everywhere a call to treat those to whom the term is directed as objects of hate.”

Judgment Reaffirms Limits of Free Speech in Politics

While acknowledging South Africa’s constitutional right to freedom of expression, the court highlighted the law’s clear boundaries, especially when speech promotes hatred or dehumanisation.

Judge Wilson explained that the Constitution places two primary limits on expression: It does not protect speech that incites war, imminent violence, or “advocacy of hatred” based on race, gender, ethnicity, or religion.

It restricts speech that shows a clear intent to harm or incite hatred on prohibited grounds, including belief or political conscience.

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“The textual definition of ‘hate speech’ outlined in the act, read purposively in its statutory setting, was in our view designed, at least in part, to prevent political speech in South Africa from degenerating into an act of mutual dehumanisation,” Wilson wrote.

He concluded that the ruling served to uphold a baseline of human dignity in political discourse. “The act sets modest outer limits for social and political interaction.”

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