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Zindzi Mandela faces hate speech complaint over land tweet

Lobby group AfriForum has submitted a hate speech complaint against Zindzi Mandela to the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) for comments she made on social media last month.

According to a statement by the deputy CEO of AfriForum, Alana Bailey, the decision to lay a complaint with the commission followed after her request to have Mandela recalled and dismissed as an ambassador failed.

Bailey said AfriForum had asked International Relations and Cooperation Minister Naledi Pandor to recall Mandela who is the South African ambassador to Denmark.

"Although the department investigated the matter and found that Mandela had indeed been responsible for the messages, she was simply reprimanded," she added in a statement.

READ: Naledi Pandor to Zindzi Mandela: You are a diplomat - act like it!

"It now appears that her term as ambassador has, for the time being, been extended to December 2019 and that no further disciplinary steps will be taken against her by her employer.

"In view of this outcome, AfriForum has therefore decided to proceed with this complaint to the SAHRC."

News24 previously reported that Mandela tweeted: "Dear Apartheid Apologists, your time is over. You will not rule again. We do not fear you. Finally #TheLandIsOurs."

"Whilst I wine and dine here ... wondering how the world of shivering land thieves is doing #OurLand," was another of her late-night tweets.

Bailey believed that Mandela "bore witness to a hate-bearing attitude toward white people in the country" with her tweets.

"She has publicly contributed to the polarisation of local communities. With crude language, as well as false and humiliating references such as 'rapists', 'cowards’ and 'land thieves', she is contributing to a dangerous discourse of scapegoating," she said.

SAHRC spokesperson Gushwell Brooks said it had received a number of complaints that were being dealt with by its Western Cape office.

"If the complaint was lodged with the commission, it would be consolidated with these."  

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