Guilty ambassador sticks to his guns on gays

A defiant Jon Qwelane has promised to fight to the bitter end to "protect his human rights" and to be allowed to express any views he believes in.

Qwelane, a former Sunday Sun columnist and current South African ambassador to Uganda, wants the Equality Court in Johannesburg to rescind an earlier judgment in which he was found guilty of hate speech.

He was found guilty in April and ordered to tender an unconditional apology to the gay and lesbian community. He was also ordered to pay R100000 to the SA Human Rights Commission.

Qwelane's column in the Sunday Sun newspaper in July 2008 appeared under the headline "Call me names but gay is not okay".

Qwelane wrote: "Some day, a bunch of politicians will muster the balls to rewrite the Constitution."

Qwelane's lawyer George Kairinos argued yesterday that his client would fight any action against him and did not intend to apologise.

Kairinos argued that the judgment was handed down erroneously and that the court had exceeded its jurisdiction.

Kairinos asked for the case to be referred to the Constitutional Court.

"This is a constitutional matter. Did the article constitute hate speech? Was it hurtful? Did it incite harm? Because Mr Qwelane denies all that and that is why an inquiry is needed," he said.

Qwelane had provided the court with a reasonable explanation for his absence, Kairinos said.

But Thembeka Ngukaitobi, appearing for the commission, slammed Qwelane saying that, not only had the former columnist failed to appear before the court, he had also failed to file an affidavit or provide witnesses.

Ngukaitobi's colleague Jason Brickhill argued that the Equality Court had the jurisdiction to grant a default judgment that included a damages reward.

Judgment will be handed down on September 1.