CAPE TOWN - In a victory for the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), former Black First Land First (BLF) member Lindsay Maasdorp has been ordered to remove hate speech comments on social media.
Former BLF national spokesperson Maasdorp was ordered to remove the hate speech comments, which included those on his Twitter page, that he had “aspirations to kill white people, and this must be achieved.”
In a statement, the SAHRC said Maasdorp was further ordered to undergo sensitivity and diversity training before the end of the year.
The SAHRC said they had instituted proceedings in the Western Cape High Court, sitting as the Equality Court, against Maasdorp after receiving a number of complaints relating to his utterances of hate speech on social media.
There are several allegations levelled against Maasdorp including that on September 24, 2016 on his Facebook page, during a conversation in relation to white people in South Africa, he posed the question ’when will we kill them?’, on 25 September 2016, on his Twitter page he wrote ‘I have aspirations to kill white people, and this must be achieved’ and on 14 December 2018 he published a statement on Twitter, celebrating the murder of an elderly white couple to which he, in his tweet stated ‘ratio: ‘5:1’. “This referred to an earlier statement by a member of the BLF movement that five white people should be killed for every one black person killed,” the SAHRC said.
The Equality Court heard the Commission’s application and on February 17 handed down judgment against Maasdorp.
He was ordered to delete any remaining offending statements from all his social media accounts and is interdicted from publishing any statements that advocate for the killing of or any form of violence against any group in South Africa.
“He is further directed to undergo sensitivity and diversity training at a suitable institution, which training must be completed by December 2022. (Maasdorp) must also pay the Sheriff’s fees incurred by the SAHRC.
“The Commission believes this is an important judgment that goes a long way toward the Commission’s goal of eradicating all forms of hate speech on racial or other grounds,” the SAHRC said.
Attempts to reach Maasdorp for comment were unsuccessful on Sunday.
BLF spokesperson Kabelo Seagiso said they were not at liberty to comment as Maasdorp was no longer a member of the organisation.
Cape Times