The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema has said he was grateful for a Johannesburg High Court decision against a South African businessman Kenny Kunene for describing him as “a frog and a cockroach” in a speech.In a statement on Wednesday, the EFF said: “These comments were not only hateful, but were not considerate of the historical impact of derogatory terms used to refer to human beings in inciting violence and genocide.”

The EFF added: “Genocides and hate crimes against fellow human beings begin at the point of dehumanisation.”

The High Court ruled that Kunene’s comments which the businessman uttered in 2021 were “hateful and dehumanising” speech.

In its ruling, the court found that there was no justification for the comments, and that Kunene sought to incite hate and harm towards Malema.

The court ordered him to issue an unconditional public apology to Malema, which must include a retraction of the statement itself.

Judge Motsamai Makume said the statement uttered by Kunene when he referred to Malema as “a cockroach”, “little frog” and “a criminal” “are hereby declared to constitute hate speech” as defined by the Equality Act.

Kunene, the Patriotic Alliance’s deputy president, said he would appeal the judgment that found him guilty of hate speech against Malema.

Reacting to the judgment, Kunene said he had instructed his lawyers to appeal the ruling, which he felt was wrong.