JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africa's Equality Court has restricted the display of the country's old apartheid-era flag, ruling that the gratuitous use of the flag amounts to hate speech and racial discrimination.

Judge Phineas Mojapelo said the ruling was not a complete ban, saying use of the flag is protected by law to be used for artistic, academic, journalistic or other purposes deemed in the public interest.

The orange, white and blue flag of South Africa's previous white-minority regime, which enforced the system of racial discrimination known as apartheid, was replaced by a new flag when the country achieved majority-rule democracy in 1994.

The Nelson Mandela Foundation asked the court to rule that displays of the old flag constitute hate speech and discrimination based on race.