by admin on March 4, 2011 in Red Ribbon Inspiration

Freedom of speech not so free after all?

Deirdre van Zyl Smit

Wikipedia encapsulates the general term ‘freedom of speech’ as follows: Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship or limitation, or both. The synonymous term freedom of expression is sometimes used to indicate not only freedom of verbal speech but any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used.
Last week SuperSport rugby commentator Andrew Lanning got the boot for tweeting information about the utilisation of players during the upcoming Rugby World Cup. And this week Tuesday, well-known columnist Kuli Roberts made a public apology for the comments she made in her Sunday World column.
In the SuperSport-issue, Andrew Lanning disclosed sensitive information during a closed workshop – closed meaning confidential so technically he was in the wrong – although it was by no means harmful or in bad taste. Interestingly, it is obvious that he is backed by the majority of the readers based on the numerous comments on the article. And by the sounds of it, Kuli Roberts simply acted out her basic human right and spoke her mind, but in her case she got slammed by practically all 235 commentators on News24.
On closer inspection of the South African legislation on freedom of speech, there are some exceptions. It clearly condemns any form of hatred speech that is based on race, ethnicity, gender or religion, and opinions that constitutes incitement to cause harm.
The numerous complaints received about Kuli’s apparent racial statements, resulted in a full investigation by the SA Human Rights Commission. Based on the above legislation, she clearly went against the constitution, but got away with just an apology while Andrew broke no major law, and got fired?
I seriously don’t get that. But hey, that’s just my freedom of speech, right?