The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has ordered Cosatu's former Western Cape leader Tony Ehrenreich to apologise in writing for offensive comments he made on social media.
He was found to have committed hate speech and must apologise to the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) within one month.
The written statement must also affirm his commitment to constitutional values.
The commission ruling relates to a social media post published in August 2014. It found that the post advocated unfair discrimination against the SA Jewish Board of Deputies.
"The commission is of the view that the post in question can be reasonably construed to demonstrate a clear intention to promote hatred of the members of the [SAJBD]‚ as is prohibited by Section 10 of the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act. Here the commission found that the [social media post] amounted to hate speech‚" ruled the commission.
Another statement by Ehrenreich‚ objected to by another party‚ was found not to amount to hate speech.