The Cape South African Jewish Board of Deputies has approached the Cape Town Equality Court, alleging that statements, including “Jews have ruined South Africa,” made on social media by Cape politician Mehmet Vefa Dag amount to hate speech.
The case is the second of four hate speech cases the board announced it would bring, saying there had been an “unprecedented rise” in anti-Semitism in the province in the last year — a claim that has been met with scepticism by the Cape-based Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC).
Dag told TimesLIVE Premium he would be opposing the case, saying his life was not as important as the life of a child who has been murdered in Palestine. “I will stand against this. I will never step back,” he said.
In its court papers, the Cape board referred to 30 statements made on X and TikTok. Statements include “100,000 Jews control the entire SA economy,” “Jews have ruined South Africa,” and “now we have lost Muizenberg completely to Israeli settlers.”
After reposting a statement “17,000 South African Jews are committing genocide in Gaza. Should the[y] lose their citizenship?,” Dag posted: “Down with all Jews.” He also posted: “South Africans are not xenophobic. South Africans just want justice. One hundred thousand Jews control the entire economy of South Africa. This is not justice.”
In its court papers, the Cape board said the statements had several anti-Semitic meanings, including that Jewish people were “evil, morally corrupt and wicked”, “should be forcibly removed from South Africa” and that “Jewish people furtively use money, power and influence to further their own interests and undermine the interests of others”.
The Cape board said the statements fell within expression that was prohibited by the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act. It wants the court to order Dag to apologise to the South African Jewish community and pay a R25,000 donation to the Cape Town Holocaust & Genocide Centre.
Responding to questions, Dag said he and his party, the Truth and Solidarity Movement Party, were the “voice of the voiceless” and that the Cape board was “oppressing our people”. He said he was standing for the rights of Palestinian children “and also South African children” — because Jewish companies were controlling the South African economy. These companies were also benefiting from illegal immigrants, he said.
Asked whether he differentiated between Israelis, Zionists and Jews, he said he did not — in South Africa. The Cape board, “using the DA as a proxy”, wanted to bring Israelis and Ukrainian Jews to Cape Town, he said. He referred to the recent announcement by home affairs minister Leon Schreiber of an agreement between South Africa and Ukraine, which would grant visa-free access to South Africa for Ukrainian holders of diplomatic, official and service passports.
Dag has been criticised for allegedly hateful public comments in the past. Last year, the Commission for Gender Equality condemned a statement by Dag on X when a pedestrian crossing in Cape Town was painted in rainbow colours during Pride month and Dag was reported to have posted: “You can be gay, but we are not gay, we are straight people of Cape Town. Don't push into our communities your disgraceful agenda.” The CGE said his statement amounted to “unfortunate and reckless hate rhetoric” against the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (LGBTQ+) community.
The Cape board's case against Dag is one of four hate speech cases it is bringing in the Western Cape Equality Court, saying its records show an over-300% increase in “anti-Jewish attacks” in the last 13 months. The PSC said it was sceptical about these numbers because the board conflated Israel and Zionism with Jewish people.
Asked for comment about Dag's case, the PSC's Usuf Chikte said the PSC “unequivocally” condemned all forms of hate speech — “including anti-Palestinianism, anti-Semitism, Islamaphobia and anti-Arabism” — and the organisation was single-minded in upholding the rule of law. Many Jews opposed Zionism and many Zionists were not Jewish. Zionism was “a political movement distinct from Judaism and opposing it does not equate to anti-Semitism”, he said.
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