Chairperson, when we attained a democratic dispensation in 1994 South Africa was praised as one of the last hopes for respect for human rights and the rule of law.
Our Constitution has been lauded as one of the best in the world because of these important principles. When our foreign policy was crafted, it was deliberately designed to reflect these fundamental principles. However, questions are now being raised as to whether we still stand by those important principles.
This is exemplified in our perceived support for some of the most brutal regimes, not only in Africa, but also in other parts of the world. Our failure to loudly condemn human rights abuses in Myanmar, Zimbabwe and China are but a few examples that question our commitment to the rule of law.
Here at home we have witnessed, in the past few weeks, a serious departure from that principle. We have noted the dangerous expression of hate speech from the ANC Youth League leader, Julius Malema. [Interjections.] He has called for the extermination of a section of our population, something tantamount to calling for murder, racial cleansing and genocide against a certain group within our population.
I want to remind this House that history has shown repeatedly that hate speech has always been a prelude to very serious human rights abuses in the world. The genocide in Rwanda in 1994 was the result of hate preached against one ethnic group by another. Last week we witnessed in Nigeria the killing of Christians by Muslims, which was preceded by the preaching of hate by one religious group against another. [Interjections.]