Legal and social solutions to curbing hate crimes

GILLIAN KLAWANSKY

Findings of the five-year study, which looked at the occurrence, nature and impact of hate crimes, unveiled the dire need for monitoring hate incidents across vulnerable sectors – something that has never officially been done in South Africa.

While hate crimes were rife across socio-economic groups, it was found that two out of three hate crime cases were not reported to the police and when they were, offenders were apprehended in only a quarter of cases. What’s more, only 16 convictions included the hate motive.

The lack of recourse for many victims of hate crimes is rooted in the lack of hate crime legislation, says Sanja Bornman of Lawyers for Human Rights, which also forms part of the HCWG’s steering committee. “For about 10 years now, the group has actively advocated and lobbied the department of justice for a hate crimes law,” she says.

“A Hate Crimes Bill was published for public comment in November 2016 and we understand that the department received a record amount of written submissions. Yet we’re another year down the line and there’s been no visible movement on this bill. It has not entered the formal legislative process yet and, as this report so clearly indicates, we need things to be regulated. We need to understand what legislative responsibilities there are in relation to hate crimes.”

Joshua Hovsha, executive director of the Cape SAJBD, echoes the call for effective legislation, something the SAJBD has been actively campaigning for. “It’s so important that hate crime is legislated because right now, if someone draws a swastika on a shul, for example, it’s treated the same way as it would be if someone drew graffiti on any wall. It’s just a property issue, whereas the hate incident and its effect on the community is not acknowledged.

“What we’re asking is that hate crimes have the motive taken into account as well, so that victims can be better protected. It’s taken us a decade to get to this point and it is not a good enough point yet.”

The report also stressed the need for social solutions to social problems. For this to occur, unity is vital, says Hovsha. “We realise that the only way that the Jewish community is going to be safe is if all minority communities are safe. So, it’s important that society stands together. The rule of law will only be useful if it actually applies to everyone.”

National SAJBD director Wendy Kahn agrees. “We’ve been very involved in the HCWG since its founding in 2008 because we believe that we need to have a society that stands against all forms of hate and discrimination. It’s something we’ve supported and will continue to support because any form of hatred has to be stopped, and it’s insidious in society.”

According to the research published in the report, 14% of prejudice and bias was due to religion, preceded only by nationality at 45% and sexual orientation at 17%. Of those facing religious discrimination, 11% were found to be Jewish. The project looked at Judaism in terms of hate speech and defamation, and found that the group is often targeted through social media and vandalism in the form of graffiti.

The research also indicated that these hate incidents against Jewry were heightened in relation to international incidents.

“We, thank G-d, don’t face the violence that other vulnerable groups do, but the amount of hate speech that’s coming out is incredible, and it’s important to see this documented,” says Hovsha.

“This is the first time that there’s been definitive research and it’s very important that hate crimes against the Jewish community have been included,” agrees Kahn.

“The comments made in terms of how international events are taken out on South African Jewry is something we’ve known about, but it’s interesting to see it documented in this report. It’s something that we need to be very aware of as a community.

“South Africa has relatively low rates of anti-Semitism, but that can change in a second, as we all know. So, it’s important that we now have the statistics and we can put a name and a face to the hatred.”