Man gets three years suspended sentence for antisemitic Twitter posts

A Limpopo man who called Jewish people “rats” who “must be decimated” and threatened to make the Holocaust seem “like a picnic”, last week became the first person in South Africa to be convicted of an antisemitic crime. He has escaped prison time for now, at least, but he’ll have to toe the line for the next five years.

On Friday, the Randburg District Court slapped Matome Letsoalo with a sentence of three years ona charge of crimen injuria which he had pleaded guilty to. Magistrate Heidi Barnard suspended his sentence for five years on condition he is not found guilty of a similar crime in that time.

The state did not ask for direct imprisonment but senior public prosecutor Yusuf Baba argued successfully for the maximum term for the offence.

Letsoalo posted his comments alongside images of holocaust victims on Twitter back in June 2018 and tagged the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD).

Baba on Friday pointed out he had since then approached the SAJBD with a view to making amends, though.

“It is for that reason the prosecution is not asking for direct imprisonment,” he said.

He made an impassioned plea for the court to send a message.

“For too long in this country, people feel that it’s easy to impair the dignity of another without any consequences. That is not acceptable in terms of our Constitution,” Baba said,

“Each and every person in this country – no matter what race, gender or background they come from – has the right to dignity. This is a constitutional right – the highest right conferred on a citizen of the Republic of South Africa. It’s entrenched in the Constitution of the republic.”

Letsoalo took the stand briefly to argue for mercy.

He said he was not “particularly proud” of his comments but complained that his efforts to repent by apologising to the SAJBD and spending time at the Holocaust and Genocide Centre had been sidelined by the media.

“I’m coming from a background of a black person who was oppressed when the legal system of the day was wrong,” he added.

Asked by Barnard what he had learnt at the Holocaust and Genocide Centre, Letsoalo said: “Prejudice is destructive.”

“Of course, I would say I have learnt something. Next time, I would not choose to use the approach I used, I think it was wrong for me to vent like that. I think there are ways one could address such issues without using threatening language,” he said.

In handing down her ruling, Barnard described the crime of crimen injuria as “very serious”.

“It’s very prevalent in this country and I’m glad you’ve learnt from this,” she said, “I also hope you’ve learnt your lesson that social media is not to be played with, it can get you into big trouble.”

Wendy Kahn, the national director of the SAJBD, welcomed the outcome of the case.

“The fact that the maximum sentence was handed down is an encouraging demonstration of the seriousness with which the courts are viewing hate speech, in this case antisemitism and we believe it will be a deterrent to people who feel they are free to engage in such behaviour in our country,” she said.

Kahn said further the ruling had established “an important precedent for similar cases that the SAJBD might have to lay in future” and heralded “tougher consequences for antisemites”.

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