Submissions from the public to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) on the controversial Hate Speech Bill, closed at 13:00 on Thursday, 25th May. Despite the short 26-work-day comment period given for comment, well over 50 000 individual submissions have been delivered to the NCOP, many by organisations representing tens of thousands of members of the diverse faith communities of South Africa. “This proposed law is a serious threat to our constitutional right to religious freedom and the fundamental democratic right of freedom of speech,” said Michael Swain, Exe...