‘My comment was not hate speech’ — woman responds to ‘racist tweet’ about Mantashe and Hani

A woman who caused outrage on social media says she has no intention of inciting harm against mineral resources and energy minister Gwede Mantashe and insists there was nothing wrong with her remarks.

Environmental campaigner and author Nicole Barlow stirred Twitter on Sunday with a comment she made on a story by the Sunday Times about Mantashe ditching President Cyril Ramaphosa’s event to attend a Cosatu event in Boksburg instead.

In response to the article, Barlow said: “We missed an opportunity to do a Chris Hani on him”.

SACP leader Hani was killed outside his home in Boksburg in April 1993.

Barlow told TimesLIVE the “vitriol and overboard accusations” that her remarks were racist or were a threat of violence towards Mantashe are “ludicrous” and were not intended that way.

“If the police feel I have a case to answer for, they may email me and I shall respond accordingly.”

Barlow said her tweet did not meet the legal threshold of hate speech since the court ruled against AfriForum’s complaint against the EFF that the singing of Kill the Boer did not amount to hate speech or unfair discrimination.

“If I were to be found guilty for my remark, it would most certainly prove, once and for all, that our justice system is blind.

“Additionally, in South Africa’s law what is reasonable, fair and can be proven must be read in context. Hidden behind any threat to someone’s safety and life must be intent.

“Was there any intent to provoke and/or cause harm to Mantashe himself by a side comment? There was not. It would be unreasonable to think that my comment could in any way harm Mantashe — either directly or indirectly — as he enjoys VIP protection that costs the taxpayers billions each year.”

She said while every comment on social media is placed under a microscope, one must be able to exercise their basic human rights of freedom of speech and the ability to take aim at politicians. According to her, she was not inciting any violence or conspiring to murder the minister.

“That the Rational Youth Movement irrationally suggested my comment was a ‘conspiracy to murder’ is seeking to redefine South Africa’s criminal code.”

Referring to the case of S v Ngobese, where the court ruled the appellant had conspired to murder, Barlow said: “Who on earth was I conspiring with — me, myself and I?”

Barlow said she was willing to take on any law enforcement or the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) should she face charges for her remarks.

“If the NPA would like to speak to me about my comment, I would welcome the meeting. It would simultaneously provide me with an opportunity to ask why the seven dockets sitting on their desk since 2019 — in which I detail crimes of corruption, more than R100m worth of bribery, extortion, murder and defeating the ends of justice against several past and present officials at the Gauteng department of agriculture and rural development — have been ignored. In a recent letter, the prosecuting authority has temporarily closed the file,” she said.

“That the comment was ill-advised is obvious, but I have long campaigned against corruption in the ANC and my views on the ministers and their conduct is well-known. That the general public were offended was a completely unintended consequence of the comment, and for that I apologise.”

TimesLIVE

Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.