The Broadcasting Complaints Commission (BCCSA) on Tuesday morning dismissed complaints that remarks made by comedian Tumi Morake constitute as hate speech.
“While it is clear that she thinks the absence of retribution (according to her) is unfair, this does not justify an inference that violence or the commission of an unlawful act is sanctioned, promoted or even glamorised,” said the commission’s deputy chair Professor Sunette Lötter.
“The complainants targeted Tumi’s comments but the discussion was engineered and shaped (to a certain extent) by her co-presenter. Both presenters, not only Tumi, were skating on thin ice. Breakfast shows should be mindful of the possible consequences when introducing sensitive matters. Once content qualifies as a matter of public interest the Code requirements in respect of broadcasts of public interest will be applicable, which position is presumably not contemplated by a broadcaster who is on its own version ‘a predominantly music station and not a talk station.'”
“You broke down a people on skin colour before you build them up. You are now saying they must just share with everybody and be friends with everybody,” Morake said on the show.
She continued: “It’s like a child whose bicycle was taken forcefully away from him, and then you say to the bully, ‘no, no, no, share the bike together, don’t be like that.'”
Tumi’s comments regarding race led to a boycott of the station as well as 55 individual complaints.
According to Huffingtonpost, one of the complainants, Le Roy Bester, said it was not the first time that Morake had “crossed the line”.
Another complainant only known as Snyman said Morake’s comments were “not promoting nation-building, but rather destroying any possibility thereof”.
“In my humble opinion I think she is over-confident… she was only 12 years old in ’94, and what serious suffering did she experience at that stage of her life?” Snyman asked.