Former lifeguard Christopher Logan trended in widely circulated videos this week by raising the alarm about racism that is very much alive in the province.
Logan, 25, was seen in videos, enraged and frustrated after his friend Thabiso Danca was denied access at Hank’s olde Irish in Bree Street on December 1 by a bouncer due to the colour of his skin. Logan believes such an incident was telling of how far South Africa has to go to deal with racism.
“I believe in the vision of South Africa, the rainbow nation. I also understand that we won’t get there easily. Racism won’t go away easily, but racists must know that there will be consequences. Many white people are still very much racist, but they must know that if and when they are, there will be consequences,” he said.
Logan said he had initially made contact with one of the owners on the phone before the video was filmed, where he said they had a right of admission on their establishment - and entered the building thereafter.
“The second owner came, he is the brother of the first owner, and he was very aggressive. The confrontation resulted in one of the friends who accompanied me and assaulted myself. I have since opened a case with the police, and they (owners) have opened their own case.”
Logan plans to lay a complaint with the South Human Rights Commission and will be represented by Advocate Thembeka Ngcukaitobi, while the owners will be represented by William Booth.
Weekend Argus also attempted to gain comment from the ownership but to no avail but spoke with their legal team’s office, who confirmed representation.
Earlier this week, the EFF Cape Metro hosted a picket outside the establishment.
Felicity Harrison, the Head of the Sustained Dialogues Programme at the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation, said South Africa has never adequately dealt with issues of racism, justice and reconciliation.
“The wounds and trauma of racism remain largely unacknowledged.
“We have to have honest conversations, where victims have a safe space to share their experiences; truth-telling, where perpetrators acknowledge what they have done and are held to account; and reparative justice, where victims and perpetrators can restore trust and broken relationships.
“The South African Reconciliation Barometer has shown that the least amount of interaction occurs between people of different races in a social setting.
“We need to meet each other and build relationships so that healing can take place.”
Dr Sipokazi Madida, a lecturer in the Human Sciences Faculty at Unisa, believes society today is still a reflection of colonial and apartheid societies in many ways.
“No government (globally) has so far managed to rid its citizens of racism.
“The only solution is the transfer of political and economic power. Whoever holds the power will be respected.”
The South African Human Rights Commission has indicated that Social Media has impacted hate speech because it can reach a wider audience and causes more harm.
The SAHRC’s Wisani Baloyi explained, despite there being several cases published by the media regarding hate speech, many went unreported in the news.
“In terms of the test, no person may publish, propagate, advocate or communicate words that are based on one or more of the prohibited grounds, against any person, that could reasonably be construed to demonstrate a clear intention to be harmful or to incite harm and to promote or propagate hatred,” he said.
“It is thus an objective test, so the question to be asked in cases of possible hate speech is whether a reasonable reader or listener would find a statement harmful.
“So one needs to look at the facts and circumstances surrounding the statement and not mere inferences or assumptions that are made by the targeted group.
“It is the effect of the statement and not the intention of the author/speaker that should be assessed.
“Crimen injuria is where a person intentionally insults you in a manner that affects your human dignity.”
“Social media impacts hate speech in that it allows for wide and quick dissemination.
“So the wider the audience consuming the statement, one could argue the greater the harm that the hate speech inflicts.”
The SAHRC‘s Advocate Andre Gaum earlier said they were in the process of sending a letter of demand to alleged racist, Belinda Magor. This week the Commission said they were waiting on a response and could not divulge details of the content.
Magor sent racial remarks via a WhatsApp group which went viral, and was arrested thereafter and charged with crimen injuria.
Magor reportedly made comments in defence of pit bulls after a foundation lobbied for the banning of the breed as domestic pets following the death of a ten-year-old boy in Gqebera.