Torr and Dag in prison – but not for antisemitism

Thomas Torr, found guilty by the Equality Court of antisemitism and hate speech in May 2025 and ordered to apologise to the Jewish community and pay R50 000 to the Holocaust & Genocide Centre, is in Pollsmoor Prison, Cape Town.

Torr had ignored this judgement and order, leaving him in contempt of court and facing prison time. However, that isn’t why he has been in prison for the past three weeks.

Nevertheless, just before being incarcerated, Torr publicly asserted that he would rather be in prison than in a world with Jews.

“I didn’t know I had to lawyer up in life just to survive the onslaught of litigious Jews,” he said in a YouTube video on 24 May. “They are the worst people on earth. And if there are none of them in prison, then prison is a better place. I would rather be in prison than be around you f*cking psychopathic c*nts.”

The SA Jewish Report contacted the South African Police Service to find out why Torr was in prison, and couldn’t get a clear response. However, there are a few possible reasons for his arrest and subsequent imprisonment.

Said Daniel Bloch, the executive director of the Cape South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD), which initiated the case against Torr, “While official details remain unconfirmed, it [his arrest] could be linked to vandalism against our community centre about a year ago, and threats made to court officials.”

After the SAJBD’s victory at the Equality Court, Torr attacked the judge, Judge Andre Le Grange, and threatened him. Torr called Le Grange a “f*cking retarded c*nt” and “an Uncle Tom”, and said that if he were to walk down the street, he wouldn’t survive as people would come and attack him. This was clearly contempt of court, and could have made Torr liable for arrest and prosecution.

The SA Jewish Report contacted another Jewish person, who asked to remain anonymous for his safety, who had taken out a protective order against Torr for harassment. When he heard that Torr was in prison, it made his day, he said, as he knew that he wouldn’t be harassed anymore. “It’s great news that he has been arrested, whatever it’s for,” he said.

As it turns out, Torr is one of two alleged antisemites in South Africa in prison for something unrelated to the SAJBD cases. Cape politician and the president of the Truth & Solidarity Movement, Mehmet Vefa Dag, is also in Pollsmoor.

Dag isn’t there for his actions against the Jewish community, but for his continued harassment of Curro Schools. Dag was taken to court by Curro Holdings, an independent private school company, after he claimed that there were links between Curro and Jaco Pieterse, a school principal falsely accused of rape, as well as Darren Wilken, an accused child pornographer. Dag called on his social media supporters to “take action and close down all Curro institutions nationwide immediately”.

The Cape SAJBD has taken Dag to court for the many antisemitic remarks he has made. On 2 August 2024, he said on X, “Jews, your ancestors came to this country [South Africa] as refugees and robbed the whole country. Now take your bags and go to Israel. Don’t let me lose my coolers.”

Dag’s social media also demands that “Jewish people and their businesses should be boycotted or otherwise made to suffer reprisals”, and spreads beliefs that “the Holocaust never occurred; Jewish people weren’t victims of genocide during the Holocaust; and Jewish people fabricated the Holocaust to pursue their own interests”.

In April, the Western Cape High Court ordered Dag to stop posting defamatory content about Curro Schools and to remove the offending posts from his social media, which he did. However, he didn’t stop making defamatory posts, thus putting him in contempt of the court order.

According to the ruling, Dag’s actions show a “wilful and deliberate contempt of the court’s authority” as he continued to publish damaging posts about Curro after the initial ruling in April. So, Dag was ordered to surrender himself within five days, and was arrested on 5 June. Upon his arrest, he went on a Twitter rampage in which he called himself a political prisoner and the “new Mandela”.

In a video taken at the police station, Dag said that after his 90-day sentence, he would come after President Cyril Ramaphosa because “this is the one supposed to be in custody, not me. I didn’t create a problem for 20 million South Africans being unemployed”.

“We are coming to save South Africa from injustice,” Dag said. “I’m a politician, a fighter against crime and injustice in South Africa. I’m the voice of the voiceless, and the voice of South Africa. I’m here under unlawful arrest.”

Said Bloch, “We’re pleased that parties beyond our organisation have initiated legal action against Mehmet Dag following his plethora of hate speech, lies, and misinformation. He has been in Pollsmoor Prison for more than a month and still faces Equality Court charges for antisemitism and hate speech brought by the Cape SAJBD.”

“Two individuals who have been taken to court by the Board for hate speech and antisemitism are now sitting in jail,” Bloch said.

Commentator Tim Flack was also a victim of Torr’s harassment when Torr called him a “retarded Nazi faggot”. He told the SA Jewish Report this week that the arrests of Torr and Dag were a “welcome development”.

“Torr and Mehmet Vefa Dag represent a dangerous escalation in hate speech and extremist behaviour in our country,” Flack said. “They hide behind the guise of political engagement, but their actions and words reveal a deep-seated hatred directed toward Jews, Zionists, and anyone who challenges their extreme views. It’s encouraging that the justice system has taken steps in both cases. Their arrests confirm that hate isn’t tolerated here. However, arrests alone aren’t enough. Silence fuels the growth of this intimidation. We must speak out, whether we are directly targeted or not.”

Bloch agreed. “Let this serve as a clear warning: hate speech and incitement carry serious consequences. Such actions won’t be tolerated,” he said.

“The only way to stop this is to fight back,” Flack said. “Use your voice. Follow the legal processes. Expose hate wherever it is found. Those who rely on fear and silence will eventually be held accountable if we refuse to stand idly by.

“This is not only about protecting the Jewish community. It’s about defending public decency and ensuring that every South African can live without fear of ideological violence,” he said.