The Hate Crimes Bill – too much too late

The Hate Crimes Bill is a sad case of the government trying to do too much, too late.

The fight against hatred in South Africa would have been much better off if, at least twenty years ago, the government had passed a simple amendment to the existing law, stating that hateful motive must be counted as an aggravating factor for sentencing. This would have been passed with no controversy or constitutional challenge.

Instead, we have been handed a years-delayed, convoluted and controversial Bill that will be mired in a constitutional logjam for even more years. To avoid this, the Bill should actually be scrapped.