Kenny Kunene Found Guilty of Hate Speech and Ordered to Apologise After Calling Julius Malema a Cockroach

• Patriotic Alliance (PA) deputy president Kenny Kunene’s controversial “cockroach” remarks have come back to haunt him
• The businessman and politician was ordered by the High Court to apologise to Economic Freedom Fighter leader Julius Malema
• The court ruling left South African citizens divided, with many taking to social media to ridicule and poke fun at the matter

JOHANNESBURG - Businessman and politician Kenny Kunene will have to face the consequences of calling Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema a cockroach.

The High Court in Johannesburg found the Patriotic Alliance (PA) deputy guilty of hate speech for remarks he made last November. At the time, Kunene also labelled Malema “a little frog”.

Judge Motsamai Makume said the remarks made by the PA deputy were made to constitute hate speech as defined by the Equality Act. Kunene will have to issue an apology and retract his statements within 30 days, TimesLIVE reported.

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The court also prohibited the politician from publishing, propagating, advocating or communicating hate speech as defined by the Equality Act. The ruling has since gained mixed reactions on social media.

Mzansi reacts as Kenny Kunene ordered to apologise to Julius Malema

@HMgxaji said:

"Kenny must just extract that truth."

@jo97243785 posted:

"I thought it was a compliment."

Julius Malema attempted to sue Kenny Kunene for R1m following cockroach remarks

Previously, Malema demanded compensation of R1 million from Kunene. In court papers, Malema argued that the comments meant the PA deputy thought he deserved subhuman treatment.

According to IOL, at the time Kunene spoke outside court and said he refused to apologise as he believed the remarks were not hate speech. He added that he was confident that he would win the case and if he didn’t, said that he would appeal the matter.

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Kenny Kunene pokes fun at former Joburg mayor Mpho Phalatse for losing mayoral position

Briefly News also reported that Patriotic Alliance (PA) deputy leader Kenny Kunene has poked fun at former Johannesburg mayor Mpho Phalatse, who is fighting for the mayoral position.

His comments came after PA leader and Central Karoo district mayor Gayton McKenzie headed to social media to comment on the Joburg drama.

McKenzie posted a picture of Phalatse and asked his deputy not to allow him to “embarrass” himself in the same way as the former Joburg mayor.

Source: Briefly News