It is a uniquely South African story: a white man on a quest to see another white man brought to justice for using the K-word.
Mpumalanga businessman Nico von Wielligh has spent more than four years seeking justice after a white manager from an agricultural company used the K-word in his presence.
Von Wielligh, also white, hopes justice will “finally take its course” and that his unrelenting quest for some form of sanction could help to eradicate racism as he awaits a date for an oral hearing in the Equality Court.
He tried to have Chris Diedericks, a technical manager at Kempston Agri, criminally prosecuted, but the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) declined to enrol the case, citing “no reasonable prospects of success in the criminal court”.
This was despite Diedericks admitting to using the racial slur, which was captured in a recording.
The matter was enrolled early this year in the Equality Court.
“Now it's up to a judge to decide if it is permissible [to use the K-word] and not for us to decide,” said Von Wielligh.
“I am sure everybody sees it differently ... as we deal with customers from different backgrounds, we think it's not permissible.”
Von Wielligh and his partner, Jan-Harm du Plessis, complained to Kempston Agri about the utterances made in December 2020.
Kempston Agri, based in Gqebhera, imports and distributes agricultural machinery.
Von Wielligh, the CEO of VDB Ermelo, laid a crimen injuria case in December 2021 against Diedericks and Kempston Agri. The NPA, in a letter dated August 31 2022, declined to prosecute.
Von Wielligh and Du Plessis argue in court papers that Diedericks committed hate speech, unfair discrimination on the grounds of race and harassment during a visit to their dealership in Ermelo.
This, they said, violated the values enshrined in the constitution.
Diedericks admitted to using the slur during a presentation on behalf of his company to VDB dealership, a client, while attending to a complaint about a broken down tractor.
Speaking in Afrikaans at the dealership, which at the time sold their products, Dierdericks said “a k****r who worked for his brother” told him blacks had to drive tractors and he agreed.
He said a tractor needed to be checked for grease and oil every morning — something he felt blacks should do. He said he “didn't like k****rs” but that did not mean he was racist as he was “merely calling a spade a spade”.
Von Wielligh and Du Plessis took offence and complained to his bosses.
They said in papers before court that correspondence was delivered to Kempston Agri in December 2020 in which they expressed concern and demanded urgent remedial steps.
“[Kemptson Agri] has not distanced itself from the racist remarks uttered by its employee and has further aligned itself with these statements by refusing to take any reasonable or appropriate action to address racism,” their papers said.
They are suing for R500,000 which they want paid to the Wits Centre for Diversity Studies
They are suing for R500,000, which they want paid to the Wits Centre for Diversity Studies.
They want Diedericks's utterances declared hate speech, unfair discrimination based on race and harassment. They say the incident led to the termination of their agreement with Kempston Agri.
Diedericks said under oath that VDB did not explain the context of what he said at their premises.
He said a tractor they imported had broken down after being sold to a farmer. It was taken to VDB for repairs and he was there to address the farmer’s complaint. “The meeting was somewhat tense because it concerned whose fault it was that the repairs took inordinately long. To break the ice, I told an anecdote of something that happened more than 30 years ago on my brother’s farm.”
He said nobody in the room objected to the story or criticised him. Then they went to the farmer “some distance away”.
Diedericks said the complaint was received “many days later” and he was found guilty in a disciplinary hearing. “Based on what I told the independent chairperson, he found me guilty of misconduct and imposed a final written warning.”
He said he regretted using the word. “I thought at the time the context within which I did it was innocent, but if I could go back I would not do it again.”
But he argued that he did not direct the K-word at anyone in the meeting and merely “told a story as it happened”.
“I did not mean any disrespect ... I did not intend, by telling the story, to discriminate on the ground of race, harm anyone or to incite them.”
He said that should the court find he committed hate speech, he did “not earn a large salary” or have assets to afford R500,000. “If a monetary sanction were to be imposed on me, I cannot afford to pay more than a R500 per month instalment on it. The amount of the monetary sanction claimed in the complaint is unaffordable.”
Kempston Agri, in court papers, denied failing to take appropriate action against Diedericks, arguing that Von Wielligh and Du Plessis sought to “extend liability” to them.
“Without the participation [of VDB] and without a copy of the alleged recording, [Diedericks] was sanctioned by an independently appointed labour practitioner, who served as the chairperson and accordingly imposed a sentence he deemed fit and appropriate having regard to the evidence available to him,” the company said in the court papers.
It argued that Diedericks was “not acting within the course and scope of his employment” when he uttered the slur and disputed that the incident led to their agreement with Von Weilligh and Du Plessis being terminated.
“As early as October 27 2020 [before the alleged incident], it [Kempston Agri] invoked annexure 6, clause 3, of the dealer contract based on several customer reports of poor service by VDB,” the company said.
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