海角大神

Small and thin, his head hunched, Chester Missing listened wide-eyed to the man laying out the legal charges against him 鈥� defamation, harassment, inciting death threats.

Then again, wide-eyed is just about the only look Chester Missing is capable of 鈥� because Chester Missing is a South African puppet.

But that detail mattered little to the team of lawyers who gathered in Johannesburg last week to defend his right to lob 鈥渞obust criticism鈥� at a prominent right-wing musician. Nor did it appear important to the white-separatist activist delivering an impassioned plea for Chester to be legally silenced.

While Chester may not be human, the question at the heart of his case is one of modern South Africa鈥檚 most constantly and hotly debated: How does a "rainbow nation" just two decades removed from a system of rigid segregation balance free speech with the need to heal the racial divide?

From a recent human rights probe about a popular township rap song demanding South African Indians "go back across the ocean" to recurrent debates within universities on whether to punish white students for dressing in blackface at on-campus parties, the question of what boundaries should be set around hateful racial comments is constantly churning here. 听

鈥淭his case foregrounds a much deeper, under-the-skin problem in South Africa,鈥� says Dale McKinley, an activist and spokesperson for the Right2Know Campaign, a free speech group. 鈥淚t reminds people that much of the so-called process of reconciliation that happened here in the 1990s was quite surface level, and beneath it are many whites who still harbor very racist attitudes that don鈥檛 often make it into the public conversation."

It all started with a tweet

The spat that brought Chester Missing 鈥� and his human handler, the ventriloquist Conrad Koch 鈥� to the Johannesburg court began in late October with a single tweet.

鈥淪orry to offend but in my books Blacks were the architects of Apartheid. Go figure," wrote singer Steve Hofmeyr to his 125,000 followers on听Oct. 23. By way of clarification, Mr. Hofmeyr 鈥� who moonlights as an advocate for a white separatist state 鈥� quickly explained he meant that South Africa鈥檚 rigid system of segregation had been a necessary way听of 鈥渋nstitutionalis[ing] a little distance鈥� between racial groups that couldn鈥檛 get along.

鈥淚f folk did not want to share a country with you,听why is it always their fault?鈥� he wrote in an explanatory post on Facebook. 鈥淚f there has hardly been a prosperous black-led country, it isn鈥檛 always other people鈥檚 fault.鈥�

Enter Chester Missing piloted by Mr. Koch,听who is famous for Stephen Colbert-style听interviews with South Africa鈥檚 political heavyweights on a popular comedic newscast, Late Night News.

Within hours of the original tweet he had taken to his own feed with a stream of vitriol against Hofmeyr, calling him the听鈥渧oice for a privileged, self-righteous community of bigots鈥� and demanding that sponsors of events at which the singer was scheduled to appear immediately withdraw their support.

A week later, Hofmeyr shot back, winning a temporary protection order against puppet and handler, saying their tweets constituted harassment and had subjected the singer to numerous threats against his life.

Suddenly, a Twitter spat had become an interrogation of South Africa鈥檚 free speech laws, and soon the country鈥檚 most prominent freedom of speech lawyers jumped into the fray.

鈥淐riticism of a public figure's controversial statements about apartheid is protected speech, and far from harassment, constitutes speech that is important in our democracy,鈥� says Dario Milo, a partner at the Johannesburg-based firm Webber Wentzel, which routinely defends journalists and media outlets and was a member of Chester Missing鈥檚 legal team.

鈥淲hile the Harassment Act can be used to stop truly harassing electronic communications, it was an abuse of the legislation to seek a 鈥� protection order in circumstances where what was happening was a critic was being silenced,鈥� Mr. Milo says.

'Down with racism'

Chester Missing wasn鈥檛 ready to go down without a fight. And on Nov. 27 he headed to court.

鈥淐hester is looking ready. He had his head waxed, has a tie on and even borrowed clothes from his friend Pinocchio,鈥� Koch explained to a reporter outside the court.

Once inside, he listened quietly as activist Dan Roodt, speaking on behalf of Hofmeyr, explained that,听鈥淪teve is a member of the minority which is suffering extreme violence in this country.鈥�

Ultimately, however, magistrate听Naren Sewnarain听roundly dismissed the notion that the puppet was guilty of hate speech, and summarily lifted the gag order.

But the two sides weren鈥檛 three steps out of the courtroom before their debate began again in earnest.

鈥淵ou can defame us all you like, we [the Afrikaners] are here to stay,鈥� Roodt said, swatting the puppet as Chester bobbled behind him towards the court鈥檚 exit,听screaming 鈥減hansi, racism, phansi!鈥澨�(Down with racism, down!)

As Roodt brushed past him and out of the building, the puppet retreated, but not before someone in the crowd shouted out the classic call-and-response of anti-apartheid protestors: 鈥淎mandla!鈥澨�(Power!)

鈥淎wethu!鈥� returned the crowd vigorously 鈥斕齮o us!听鈥�听as Chester Missing slipped quietly out of view.听