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Name Association with Extremism

    1. Does the name “Islamic State of Africa” closely resemble known extremist and terrorist groups such as “Islamic State” (ISIS/ISIL)?
    2. Is this similarity likely to incite fear, confusion, and division among the public and could be perceived as glorifying or legitimizing such groups?

Public Safety and National Unity

    1. Could the name and symbol may pose a threat to national security and social cohesion by invoking ideologies historically associated with violence, oppression, and terrorism?
    2. Is this inconsistent with the democratic values enshrined in the Constitution of South Africa?

Potential Violation of the Electoral Commission Act

Could the registration of a party bearing such a name be seen as promoting or inciting hatred, violence, or intimidation, which violates the principles of the Act?

Offensive Symbolism

Could the party’s symbol and messaging “Free all of Mankind”, in combination with its name, be interpreted as a radical or militant agenda, raising concerns about its intentions and public perception?

Have your say on the registration application

In the News

Original published notice

The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) recently asked the public to comment on the potential registration of a new political party called the Islamic State of Africa (ISA).

How to register a political party (IEC)

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Parties issued with de-registration notices in 2025

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Party registration regulations (gov gazette)

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STATEMENTS AND MEDIA RELEASES

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Freedom of Religion SA (FOR SA)

TEMPLATE PROVIDED BY FOR SA

I strongly oppose the Prevention and Combating of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill [B9B – 2018], which I believe to be unconstitutional and unnecessary, for the following reasons:

  1. The Bill violates our constitutional rights as religious persons to express our religious beliefs without fear of punishment or persecution (section 15, read with section 16). Increasingly, around the world but also in South Africa, various holy scriptures (particularly on contentious issues) are regarded as “politically incorrect” or “offensive”, allegedly causing emotional and/or social harm.
  2. I specifically oppose the Bill’s:
    1. wide definition of “harm” (in Clause 1);
    2. the failure to define “hatred” (in Clause 1); and
    3. definition of, and creation of, the crime of “hate speech” (in Clause 4).
  3. The creation of the crime of “hate speech” for saying / distributing something which could possibly be construed as “harmful”, will have certain unintended consequences, namely the criminalisation of good / well-meaning people who will be prosecuted for saying what they sincerely believe (according to their holy texts) and sent to jail.
  4. There are already sufficient existing laws dealing with “hate speech”.
  5. For all of the reasons given, I ask:
    1. For the scrapping of the “hate speech” sections from the Bill altogether;
    2. Alternatively, should the “hate speech” provisions remain part of the Bill, we ask:
      1. That “harm” be defined as: “gross emotional and psychological detriment that objectively and severely undermines the human dignity of the targeted group”; and
      2. That “hatred” be defined as: “strong and deeply-felt emotions of enmity, ill-will, detestation, malevolence and vilification against members of an identifiable group, that implies that members of that group are to be despised, scorned, denied respect and subjected to ill-treatment based on their group affiliation”.
    3. That Clause 4(2)(d) (the “religious exemption clause”) be strengthened as follows to protect:
      “expression of any religious conviction, tenet, belief, teaching, doctrine or writings, by a religious organisation or an individual, in public or in private, to the extent that such expression does not actively support, instigate, exhort, or call for extreme detestation, vilification, enmity, ill-will and malevolence that constitutes incitement to cause gross emotional and psychological harm that severely undermines the dignity of the targeted group, based on race, ethnicity, gender, religion or sexual orientation”.