The appellant appealed against a finding of a Tribunal of the Commission that the broadcast of the 
following insert during a breakfast show “One thing white people and black people have in common is that we all get taken for a ride by Indian people. I don’t trust camels or anyone else that doesn’t drink water for three days” constituted a contravention of clause 38 of the Code. They also appealed against the imposed penalty of R2 500.
The appellant argued that the Tribunal did not have the jurisdiction to change the reason for the complaint being entertained. The original complaint was based on racism and clause 38 deals with indignity. The hearing should have been terminated when it became clear that the respondent mistakenly thought that the word “tamils” instead of “camels” was used. Furthermore, the Tribunal did not take the context of the broadcast into consideration and in view of previous judgments of the Tribunal this specific type of stereotyping should not have been considered an infringement of the dignity of Indians as a group. The Appeal Tribunal held that the decision was clearly wrong in that clause 38 of the Code applies to an individual and not to people as a group.
The Appeal is accordingly upheld and the decision of the Tribunal set aside.