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Gauteng's social fabric was jolted as the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) laid a heavy hand on diamond dealer Louis Liebenberg for alleged hate speech. Amidst the public outcry over the offensive remarks made in various WhatsApp voice notes, the SAHRC proceeded to lodge an application with the Pretoria High Court to have these comments legally recognized as hate speech.
The voice notes, brimming with derogatory terms and praises for the apartheid era, allegedly spewed from the lips of Liebenberg, who is currently ensnared in the glare of the law on unrelated charges of fraud, theft, racketeering, and money laundering. The SAHRC's documents reveal the gravity of the situation, urging the court to render a fitting response by officially branding the remarks as hate speech under the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act.
There is more to Liebenberg's tale, as he retains his innocence from the confines of the Kgosi Mampuru Correctional Facility. The diamond dealer recounts his narrative to The Citizen, painting a starkly different portrait of the events leading to his vilification. According to Liebenberg, a scorned former Media24 journalist is the mastermind behind his downfall. She, whom Liebenberg intimates to have shared a sexual relationship, concocted a malicious ruse of splicing voice notes to present a damning evidence against him as retribution for their severed ties.
The authenticity of these claims, as Liebenberg admits his original statements but protests their intended context, will be rigorously scrutinized by the courts as they peel back the layers of the alleged defamatory language. Liebenberg's defense anchored in a romantic entanglement gone bitter, and his assertions of donating generously to Eureka, a controversial Afrikaner-only settlement, raise critical eyebrows about the intersections of privacy, consent, and media responsibility.