'The sad thing about Julius...'
2009-07-10 22:29
Johannesburg - ANC Youth League president Julius Malema is "trying to deviate from the real issue" by saying that the hate speech case against him is driven by whites, said Mbuyiselo Botha of the Sonke Gender Justice Network on Friday.
Botha laid a complaint of hate speech, discrimination and harassment against Malema. This, after Malema made a statement regarding President Jacob Zuma's rape trial at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology in January.
Malema told university students at the time: "Those who had a nice time will wait until the sun comes out, request breakfast and ask for taxi money. In the morning, that lady requested breakfast and taxi money," in reference to the woman who laid a rape charge against President Jacob Zuma in 2005, when he was deputy president of the ANC.
Botha said that in terms of the Equality Act, the ANC Youth League's president's statement perpetuated myths and stereotypes about rape.
The organisation wants an apology and R50 000 in damages to a shelter for abused women.
Case postponed
Malema said on Friday that he won't apologise for his comments, saying that whites who are against black leaders are behind the case against him.
"We will never apologise to some Mickey Mouses (sic) who want to put pressure on us," he said outside the Equality Court on Friday after the matter was postponed to August 31.
The postponement would allow his lawyer to review evidence and consider applying to have the case thrown out of court.
Standing on the back of a bakkie on the pavement outside the court, Malema said: "We are in court because the whites who are sponsoring this organisation, they want to make sure they embarrass the leadership of this movement."
To applause and cheers of "yes, yes", from the women and men looking up at him, Malema called on "progressive forces" not to support the network, saying a new alternative would be created because the one who laid the complaint represented "the whites who are opposed to African leadership".
"We are in court because the whites who are sponsoring this organisation, they want to make sure they embarrass the leadership of this movement."
He continued: "An agenda must be exposed. This is a case of those who are refusing to accept the leadership of the ANC."
Race 'irrelevant'
Botha, a black civics organisation activist shot by police in Sharpeville during apartheid, said after the speech that the colour of their lawyers' skin was irrelevant 15 years into democracy.
"Instead of answering to the charges in court, he [Malema] keeps quiet, and makes these ridiculous statements outside about us being used by white people," Botha said.
According to its website www.genderjustice.org.za the network "works across Africa to strengthen government, civil society and citizen capacity to support men and boys to take action to promote gender equality, prevent domestic and sexual violence, and reduce the spread and impact of HIV and Aids".
Its sponsorship is drawn from organisations which include Oxfam, USAID and the British development agency DFID.
"The sad thing about Julius is that he is trying to deviate from the real issue and is trying to confuse people," said Botha.
Comments based on judgment
Malema did not testify during the case, but his lawyer Tumi Mokwena told the court his comments were based on Judge Willem Van der Merwe's statement when he acquitted Zuma of the rape charge in 2006.
They were in line with what he ruled and were fair comment. Mokwena also asked whether it was taboo to discuss the issue of false rape charges, or whether it would have been more acceptable if a woman had made the comments.
It was also in the context of a question ahead of the elections, and that he had also said that the ANC was committed to fighting crime.
Lisa Vetten, a researcher at the Tshwaranang Legal Advocacy Centre to End Violence Against Women, said in court that Malema's comments were inaccurate when compared with the judgment.
"They constitute an act of myth-making in that what he reported as the facts of the Zuma trial are distortions of the actual findings of the case."
Vetten said the judgment read: "According to the complainant the accused asked her whether she had money for transport the following morning and she abruptly confirmed that she had money."
She said: "It is very clear that the victim never requested breakfast or taxi money."
She added later: "If he was at the Zuma trial, his memory must be faulty. He is using inaccurate, incorrect facts to bolster a broad generalisation."
Myths and stereotypes about rape
She explained the myths and stereotypes on rape, saying they deny women equal protection before the law by implying that some victims "ask" or deserve to be raped.
Mokwena then attacked Vetten's credentials, asking how she felt qualified to pass opinion on the subject when she has no degree, in spite of her 18 year's experience in research, counselling and advocacy on the subject.
Vetten said that would be for the court to decide.
- SAPA