Award-winning movie Inxeba’s porno reclassification has been overturned by the Pretoria High Court‚ on the grounds that it was procedurally unfair and unlawful.
But Judge Joseph Raulinga has stressed that Inxeba (The Wound)‚ which depicts a homosexual relationship between two men at an initiation school‚ violated the rights to dignity of Xhosa people.
Furthermore‚ he said‚ “if cultural beliefs and practices are to be considered‚ the film is harmful and disturbing and exposes 16-year-olds to the sexual conduct depicted in the film”.
“The film included language which was degrading to Xhosa women and further exposes women to societal violence such as rape. It contains harmful scenes which could cause tensions within the Xhosa community and even within the broader African community. By implication it has an effect on the rights of the Xhosa traditional group‚” he said.
Throughout his judgment‚ Raulinga stressed that the Inxeba filmmakers’ rights to freedom of expression could not override the rights to dignity of Xhosa people.
“This application concerns the balancing of two parallel equations . . . the right to cultural rights and the right to freedom of expression‚ and the need to balance the right to freedom of expression with cultural rights.
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Source: Times Live
