Gqeberha Hate Speech Ruling: Shop Fined Over LGBTQ Ban Sign

A Gqeberha shop owner must issue a public apology and pay R200,000 in damages to an equality organization after the Equality Court ruled that his "LGBTQ not welcome at LaGardi. Save our children" sign amounted to hate speech, unfair discrimination and harassment. The Gqeberha Hate Speech Ruling, handed down on 6 October 2026 by Judge BM Pakati in a case brought by the South African Human Rights Commission against Dawood Lagardien, also barred him from repeating the conduct and referred the matter to the National Prosecuting Authority for criminal investigation, according to the commission.

The Gqeberha Hate Speech Ruling traces back to a sign put up outside La Gardi Plastics, a business at 70 Bell Street in the Parkside area of Gqeberha that sells plastics and baking supplies. Lagardien, the shop's owner, said the sign followed an incident in June 2023 in which two men entered the premises and kissed in front of other customers and children. He maintained that he asked the men to leave because he considered their behavior indecent, and not because he intended to discriminate against LGBTQ people, conviction.co.za reported. The sign combined the ban with an appeal to "save our children," language the commission said framed queer people as a threat to children.

The commission argued that the sign went further than a personal or religious objection to particular behavior. In its media statement, the South African Human Rights Commission said the wording excluded people on the basis of sexual orientation and told the public that members of the LGBTQIA+ community were unwelcome at the business. The Gqeberha Hate Speech Ruling also took into account a WhatsApp group Lagardien created and administered, which carried threatening messages aimed at the community and was deleted before the hearing. Court filings cited messages in the group that called for force against queer people, which the commission said crossed from religious expression into calls for harm. The commission brought the case under the Equality Act, with the Commission for Gender Equality joining the proceedings and Media Monitoring Africa Trust, now Moxii Africa, participating as a friend of the court. The commission called the ruling significant because it confirmed that constitutional protections for free speech and religious belief do not excuse conduct that harms the dignity and equality of others.

Why the court rejected the defense

Judge Pakati found that the constitutional rights to freedom of religion and freedom of expression, while fundamental, do not justify conduct that unlawfully infringes the dignity and equality of others. In the Gqeberha Hate Speech Ruling, the court held that the sign and the messages went beyond stating a religious view about homosexuality and crossed into detestation and vilification of a protected group, conduct the Equality Act prohibits. The judgment found that the sign infringed the rights to equality and dignity of LGBTQIA+ people, and that messages in the group showed its members promoted harm and incited harm against them, as the commission's court papers argued. Lagardien must publish a public apology, pay the damages to a nongovernmental organization chosen by the commission, and cover the legal costs of the Commission for Gender Equality.

What the ruling means beyond one shop

The Gqeberha Hate Speech Ruling is the second Equality Court decision of its kind in a matter of months. In June 2026, a Johannesburg court ordered broadcaster Ngizwe Mchunu to apologize, pay damages of two hundred and fifty thousand rand to equality organizations, and undergo human rights training over anti-LGBTQIA+ harassment. Both cases build on the Constitutional Court's 2021 decision in Qwelane v SAHRC, which set the legal test for hate speech in South Africa. The queer outlet Gay Pages described the Lagardien judgment as proof that courts will keep applying that test to new facts.

For South Africa's queer community, the case matters because the country's constitution explicitly protects people from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, a guarantee that sets it apart on the continent. The Gqeberha Hate Speech Ruling shows that protection reaches everyday spaces like shops and group chats, not just public policy. It also signals to business owners that a posted sign can carry legal consequences: the damages order, the interdict and the criminal referral together mean exclusionary messaging is treated as a civil wrong first, with criminal liability still on the table. Activists in the city had rallied outside court hearings in the case, including a demonstration in May 2025 outside the East London High Court, according to Gay Pages.