Advocacy groups TransHope and the Hate Crime Working Group have obtained an interim interdict in the Joburg High Court to gag radioenfant terrible, Ngizwe Mchunu, from spewing anti-gay diatribes.
Mchunu, the president of Amabhinca, was ordered not to organise, promote, lead or participate in any march or other demonstration against LGBTQIA+ persons at KwaMai Mai in Joburg.
“Mr Mchunu shall, within 12 hours of service of this order on him by email or WhatsApp, remove any material he has published on any online platform (including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp channels or WhatsApp groups) that directly or indirectly discriminates against any LGBTQIA+ persons or communities,” reads the order, which we have seen.
The application was launched after Mchunu, an incorrigible homophobe, took to social media under the pretext of taking the cudgels on behalf of Zulu King Misuzulu, and called on gay people to refrain from wearing the Zulu garb because they were defiling its sanctity.
This was after he saw a video clip depicting two gay men festooned in traditional Zulu garb walking down the aisle at KwaMai Mai in Joburg. After watching the video, the dyed-in-the-wool homophobe and tribalist went bonkers and hurled anti-gay epithets at the LGBTQIA+ community.
Mchunu said, as a Zulu man supported and blessed by the king, he was shocked by “the audacity to take our Zulu garb and disrespect it like this and embarrass us”.
“The audacity to take our shields and traditional tokens and parade them like this as if they were nothing. For you to take your tongue and go stuff it in another man, we have no problem with your gayism (sic). We have lived with you while you were gay, and when the government gave you rights and said, ‘marry each other’, a government that said there must be abortions in this country, we kept quiet. Now, it is saying a man must change and become a woman and take the surname of the wife.
“Ramaphosa’s government is blasphemous and speaking nonsense. The 7th administration is an embarrassment to this country; things are becoming messy day by day, the kings are tied up in bureaucratic red tape and silence just because they get paid,” he said.
Mchunu continued with his dogmatic and anti-gay sentiments.
“I am saying no gay person can wear Zulu traditional garb. Over my dead body,” he said.
In the second video depicting Mchunu with a group of men, preparing for a march to KwaMai Mai he called on gay people to get out of the way.
“No dog is going to stop me; no one will stop me, but if the gay people are at KwaMai Mai to eat and promote the business, buy whatever they want and eat it is fine because we have learnt to live with them anyway, but not when it comes to our traditional garb.
“So, from today, there is no gay person who will ever wear or suit up in traditional Zulu garb and put on our crowns for no reason. Voetsek! We will not hear from you, damn it!”
In their particulars of claim, the organisations said that on October 9, the SA Human Rights Commission wrote to Mchunu demanding he remove his videos from social media, retract and apologise for his remarks, but he told the organisation to “eff off”.
“It is clear that Mr Mchunu has no intention to stop propagating hate and inciting violence, nor to remove his videos that continue to foster hatred online. Nothing but an urgent order from this court will stop him,” read the papers.
And the court agreed with them.
