South Africa set to pass a bill that could see comedians serve 10 years in jail for sarcastic jokes

Following the prevention and combating of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill that was released by the Justice Minister Micheal Masutha last week, South African government is reviewing a proposed bill that could see comedians hit with a 10 year sentence for making sarcastic jokes.

According to BuzzSA, the provisions of the bill, will carry heavy fines and a maximum jail term of 10 years for anyone convicted of showing bias, prejudice or intolerance on the grounds of race, colour, sex, gender, sexual orientation, religion, belief, culture, language, nationality, birth, disability, HIV status, occupation or trade, albinism and ethnic or social origin.

Reacting to the proposed bill on City Press, popular comedian, Jason Goliath criticized the bill saying:
‘What comedians do on stage compared with what people like Penny Sparrow, for example, say, shows a definite difference between freedom of speech and hate speech. We do it in the name of fun’