"Julius Malema believes racism is as serious a crime as rape"

So according to East London's Daily Dispatch, Julius Malema has said that racism is as serious a crime as rape and should be treated as such.

I completely agree with this statement: hate speech is horrific - it is divisive in an already racially-divided society and needs to be treated seriously. HOWEVER: this is coming from the SAME MAN who is guilty of numerous accounts of hate speech. Let us not forget that this is the man who said that the woman who accused President Jacob Zuma of rape had a "nice time" because she stayed for breakfast and asked for taxi money.

'According to court papers, he said: "When a woman didn't enjoy it, she leaves early in the morning. Those who had a nice time will wait until the sun comes out, request breakfast and ask for taxi money."' [guardian.co.uk].

So if we are to agree with dear Malema, and treat racism as seriously as we treat rape, then we should just laugh it off, make sickeningly nonchalant remarks about it in the public domain, and forget about how this costs the victims of said crime.

Only 1 in 9 women report being raped in South Africa, owing to the length and difficulty of the process of reporting [victims are often not taken seriously, raped again by police officers or threatened by family members, friends and male acquaintances], and thus the perpetrators of such heinous crimes are not brought to justice.

While the victims of rape are offered no hope of justice in this country, Malema has no right to compare racism to rape. He himself does not take rape seriously.