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By Citizen Reporter

Journalist


SA mourns death of veteran journalist Jon Qwelane

The controversial journalist's death comes amid an ongoing legal battle over his 2008 column, ‘Call me names but gay is not okay’.


Former South African ambassador to Uganda Jon Qwelane has died in hospital on Thursday, at the age of 68.

Born on 10 September 1952, Qwelane was a talkshow host for 702 for a decade, according to South African Journalists’ Wiki.

He was also the founding member of the Writers’ Association of South Africa.

The veteran journalist’s death comes amid an ongoing legal battle for his controversial 2008 column, Call me names but gay is not okay.

The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) last November overturned a High Court judgment which had previously found Qwelane guilty of hate speech and threw out a challenge he launched to section 10 of the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act (PEPUDA), under which Qwelane was originally charged.

ALSO READ: ‘How hurtful’ was Qwelane’s column really, asks judges

The appellate court found the section in question was vague, giving Parliament 18 months to remedy the defects and ordering that in the interim PEPUDA read:

“No person may advocate hatred that is based on race, ethnicity, gender, religion or sexual orientation that constitutes incitement to cause harm.”

The SCA’s judgment is now before the Constitutional Court for confirmation.

Tributes have already started to pour in on social media for the veteran journalist.

Additional reporting by Bernadette Wicks

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