Following a protracted battle and various complaints, the FF Plus succeeded in getting the Human Rights Commission (HRC) to call president Zuma to account due to hate speech against white people, Adv. Anton Alberts, the FF Plus’ parliamentary spokesperson on Communication, says.
Some of the complaints deal with comments Zuma made in January of last year that the country’s problems started with the arrival of Jan van Riebeeck.
After president Zuma ignored the deadline of the HRC last year, and the HRC failed to do something about it, the FF Plus forced the HRC in terms of the PAI Act to provide information why it is failing to act against the president. The investigation was then reactivated.
The HRC eventually move the deadline to 31 July of this year and confirmed today that president Zuma has responded to the complaint. The commission did however not want to reveal the content of the response, and said it would be made public at a later stage.
Adv. Alberts says that after this long struggle with the HRC, which created the impression that it was not prepared to act against president Zuma, it is a pity that the commission is now, a day before the elections, apparently protecting the president further by not making the content of his response to the complaint public.
“The FF Plus has insisted on the response to which the FF Plus is entitled, but the HRC has continued with its decision to reveal the answer of the president only later.
“It is worrying that the HRC is increasingly creating the impression that it is not prepared to implement its mandate as a Chapter Nine institution with constitutional obligations without fear or favour, as the Public Protector had done.
“The FF Plus’ view is that all citizens who commit transgressions should be treated alike. Yet, it is clearly not the case.
“People such as Sunette Bridges and more recently, Penny Sparrow, were quickly called to order about racist comments, Apart from the actions against president Zuma now, nothing has been done about valid complaints against the EFF supporters who openly incite people to murder white people.
“The FF Plus will ceaselessly continue to put pressure on the HRC to do its work properly and to act strictly against all offenders, regardless of their skin colour,” Adv. Alberts says.
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