"Displaying the apartheid flag should be a hate crime" - Nelson Mandela Foundation

STELLENBOSCH, SOUTH AFRICA – MAY 27: Students hold up the old South African flag in protest at removal of the plaque honouring H F Verwoerd from the Accounting and Statistics building on the Stellenbosch University on May 27, 2015 in Cape Town, South Africa. In April, Prof Wim de Villiers, Rector and Vice-Chancellor, announced that the plaque would be removed and provisionally kept in the University Archives.

“Displaying the apartheid flag should be a hate crime” – Nelson Mandela Foundation

The Nelson Mandela Foundation has approached the Equality Court in Johannesburg, seeking an order that constitutes displaying the old apartheid flag of South Africa as “an act of hate speech”. The foundation, which works to promote Madiba’s vision and work by creating platforms for engagement around critical issues, says that the flag represents the crimes against […]

"Displaying the apartheid flag should be a hate crime" - Nelson Mandela Foundation

STELLENBOSCH, SOUTH AFRICA – MAY 27: Students hold up the old South African flag in protest at removal of the plaque honouring H F Verwoerd from the Accounting and Statistics building on the Stellenbosch University on May 27, 2015 in Cape Town, South Africa. In April, Prof Wim de Villiers, Rector and Vice-Chancellor, announced that the plaque would be removed and provisionally kept in the University Archives.

The Nelson Mandela Foundation has approached the Equality Court in Johannesburg, seeking an order that constitutes displaying the old apartheid flag of South Africa as “an act of hate speech”.

The foundation, which works to promote Madiba’s vision and work by creating platforms for engagement around critical issues, says that the flag represents the crimes against humanity that apartheid was responsible for.

Why is displaying the apartheid flag hate speech?

In a statement released on Wednesday, the NMF said that publicly displaying the flag is an act of harassment based on race, given the severe racist overtones that are a part of its identity.

They likened the situation to that of Germany, and the possession of Nazi paraphernalia. The Foundation believes that the old flag of South Africa has as much negative symbolism as a swastika, stating that they both “signify only oppression and hatred”:

“On 27 February 2018 the Nelson Mandela Foundation made an application to the Equality Court in Johannesburg for an order declaring that gratuitous displays of the old official flag of apartheid South Africa constitute hate speech, unfair discrimination and harassment based on race.”

“The decision to launch this application comes after years of watching public displays of the old flag and hoping that such behaviour would stop. These displays demonstrably compound the pain experienced by millions of black South Africans who suffered under apartheid and continue to struggle under its legacy”

Nelson Mandela foundation concerned by Black Monday protests

The Nelson Mandela Foundation claim that the Black Monday protests in October 2017 finally forced them into this decision.

The demonstrations, which were organised to raise awareness of farm murders, drew thousands of supporters to rallies across South Africa. However, some of these gatherings featured protesters waving the apartheid flag.

AfriForum had argued that the flag has historical value and it cannot be banned. However, the foundation used that argument against them. They believe it belongs in museums and documentaries only, consigned to the vaults of history, never to be revisited.

You can read the Nelson Mandela Foundation’s full statement here.