South Africa May Legally Ban the Apartheid Flag

The Nelson Mandela Foundation has taken the matter to court and the case will begin today.

The Nelson Mandela Foundation (NMF) and the racist lobby group AfriForum, will appear in the Equality Court today and tomorrow. According to News24, the NMF will be arguing that the displaying of the Apartheid flag should be legally banned on the basis of hate speech.

Last year, the NMF filed an application for the Apartheid flag to be banned on the basis of hate speech, unfair discrimination and harassment based on race. The foundation expressed that the flag goes against everything South Africa's struggle heroes endured in the arduous fight to liberate Black people.

You'd be forgiven for having thought that the symbol of a brutal and racially segregated regime had been done away with when South Africa became a democracy back in 1994. However, those South Africans who are still nostalgic for the injustices of the past, are free to fly the flag in public without fear of repercussions in much the same way as racists still fly the Confederate flag in America.

Spokesperson for the foundation, Luzuko Koti, said:

"For the foundation, it is time to acknowledge that the old flag is a symbol of what was a crime against humanity and that its gratuitous public display celebrates that crime and humiliates everyone who fought against it, especially black South Africans."

However, AfriForum has termed the banning of the Apartheid flag unconstitutional and said that it violates freedom of expression. Unsurprisingly, the move to oppose the Nelson Mandela Foundation's court application is right on brand for them. One can only wonders whose freedom of expression they're referring to.

They've gone on to stress that the country's Constitution does not encompass symbols or images in what is terms "hate speech".

The matter is scheduled to be heard today and tomorrow in the Equality Court.