President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday signed into law the Preventing and Combating of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill, which he said outlaws the offences of hate crimes and hate speech and the prosecution of persons who commit those offences.

He explained that a hate crime was committed if a person commited any recognised offence under any law that was motivated by prejudice or intolerance on the basis of one or more characteristics or perceived characteristics of the victim.

“The definition of the crime extends to offences targeting the victim’s association with or support for a person with one or more of the listed characteristics or a group of persons who share these characteristics,” he added.

Ramaphosa highlighted that the legislative measure gave effect to South Africa’s obligations in terms of the Constitution and international human rights instruments concerning racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.

He said the new Prevention and Combating of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Act provided for the prevention of hate crimes and hate speech, effective enforcement measures and the gathering and recording of data on hate crimes and hate speech.

He explained that the offence of hate speech applied to any person who intentionally published, propagated, advocated, shared or communicated anything to one or more persons in a manner that could reasonably be construed to demonstrate a clear intention to be harmful or to incite harm and to promote or propagate hatred based on defined grounds.

Ramaphosa noted that the law also made it an offence when speech material is intentionally distributed or made available in electronic communication, with the person knowing that such electronic communication constitutes hate speech.

He said the law excluded from the ambit of hate speech anything done in good faith in the course of engagement such as artistic creativity, performance or another form of expression, as well as academic or scientific inquiry.

The law also contained directives on training and other measures to be undertaken by the South African Police Service and the National Prosecuting Authority to ensure effective processing of the newly defined crimes, he said.