South Africans can expect speech which will shock, offend and disturb them in the run-up to next year's general election, SA Human Rights Commissioner Jody Kollapen said on Wednesday.

"We're going to find robust contestation around ideas," Kollapen said.

Cautioning the public against merely calling for this speech to be prohibited, he said there was a real danger that doing so could stifle the need for vibrant discourse and discussion.

Kollapen was addressing students at the University of the Witwatersrand as a guest of its branch of Amnesty International.

He told them a lot of people did not know what hate speech was, as was evident from the numerous complaints the Commission received.

Offensive speech could only be considered hate speech if it constituted incitement to cause harm, physical or psychological, he said.

"The difficult issue often one has to deal with in society is whether speech that is tough, that is disturbing, that may be shocking should be circumscribed.

"I don't think it should be circumscribed.

"I think we should ensure that we are able to encourage that kind of open dialogue, debate, and in each case determine where the line should be drawn appropriately," Kollapen said.

"I'm inclined to say people should be allowed to express their view as long as it does not constitute incitement to cause harm."

It was also necessary to look at the context of the comments made, as in the recent cases of ANC Youth League president Julius Malema and Congress of SA Trade Unions general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi.

Malema apologised for suggesting that the youth would kill for ANC president Jacob Zuma, while Vavi described as too strong his comment that people would shoot to kill in defence of the revolution and expressed his regret for making the comment.

"One of the big problems is that there is a [political] contestation going on out there," said Kollapen.

"... The Commission can't be expected to moderate the public contestation around ideas.

"Our job is to ensure that people conduct themselves within the constitution and that's what we try and do.

"I think there's going to be continued arguments about speech as we move into an election next year," he said.

Acknowledging that where there was hate speech, it had to be dealt with, Kollapen advised the public not to become emotional in their reaction.

"... Even as we grew up, people said... sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me... but names do hurt. They hurt more than sticks and stones sometimes.

"So, it's an important issue. It's an issue about human dignity, about how people feel about themselves, about their part in society and we must guard that."

Sapa