HATE SPEECH BILL: NCOP COMMITTEE PROPOSES MORE CHANGES

HATE SPEECH BILL: NCOP COMMITTEE PROPOSES MORE CHANGES

• 09 November 2023
• Parliament
• SA Legal Academy

Please note: According to parliamentary papers, on 15 November 2023, the NCOP adopted its committee's recommended amendments to the Bill, which has been sent back to the National Assembly’s Justice & Correctional Services Committee for concurrence.

The NCOP Committee on Security & Justice has tabled a report in the House proposing amendments to the Prevention & Combating of Hate Crimes & Hate Speech Bill’s ‘B’ version. Once endorsed by the House, these proposals will be referred to the National Assembly’s Justice & Correctional Services Committee for concurrence.

The NCOP committee’s recommended amendments have implications for:

• the victim impact statement, and
• the Minister’s powers to prescribe the information to be collected and collated for implementation reporting purposes.

Interestingly, an annexure to the report notes that the committee chose not to adopt a proposed amendment focusing on good faith, bona fide ‘literary, comedic or satirical creativity, performance or expression’ with the potential to constitute a criminal offence. That form of expression or performance – as well as the act of sharing it – is therefore unlikely to be expressly exempt from prosecution once the Bill has been enacted and operationalised.

The committee also chose not to adopt a proposed amendment allowing greater flexibility during a political debate.

• Bill’s ‘B’ version
• parliamentary papers including committee report (page 7)

Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch

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