MacG’s commenting goes beyond the bounds of free speech

To those of you who complain about the “mainstream media” – ironically, even those who do so in our letters columns – let us repeat: You’ll miss us when we’re gone.

What you will have left, after the “traditionally” trained media gatekeepers have been put out to pasture, is a social media cesspool where the worst of humanity erupts to the surface of misinformation, fake news and hate speech.

ALSO READ: Parliament to summon MacG after comments about Minnie Dlamini

That’s why, while we acknowledge the right to freedom of speech and don’t feel comfortable when a government minister appears to want to curtail it, we think Deputy Minister of Women Youth and Persons Disabilities Mmapaseka Letsike is right to demand that sleazy podcaster MacG – aka Macgyver Mukwevho – should be summoned to parliament to explain his disgusting tirade about TV host and actress Minnie Dlamini.

Letsike is correct that this sort of debased commenting goes beyond the bounds of free speech and can be considered to be “online GBV (gender-based violence)”.

ALSO READ: Minnie Dlamini breaks silence following controversial MacG comments

There are many women who are battered verbally by misogynistic creeps like MacG every day on social media. Verbal assaults also pave the way for physical ones… so these louts must be called out and punished.