CASE NO: 12/2010 – COETZEE VS YFM – HATE SPEECH

This is an appeal against a decision by a commissioner who adjudicated the complaint.  The complaint was directed against the broadcast of a song in which the words “Shoot the Boer” are audible – though barely so.  Commissioner finding that song amounted to hate speech and that there was incitement to cause harm.  The Tribunal found that the broadcast should be judged in context.  It found that Malema was being lampooned in the programme, that the announcement of the song was accompanied by laughter, that the light-hearted mood of programme should be taken into consideration. The Tribunal found that, when judged in context, the broadcast of the song did not amount to the advocacy of hatred based on ethnicity or race, and that there was no incitement to cause harm. The appeal was upheld and the adjudication set aside.