The SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) is taking action against Democratic Alliance (DA) member of Parliament Renaldo Gouws following racist remarks he made on YouTube 16 years ago.
In a recent exposè by IOL, on the footage, Gouws can be heard saying: “Alright so there’s a couple of things I want to say. Kill the f**ing k*ffirs, kill all the f*ing n*ggers. That’s all I gotta f*ing say. Kill all the k*ffirs! Kill all the f*ing n*ggers!”
Gouws has denied making the slurs.
However the DA suspended Gouws on Thursday morning after establishing that the video is genuine and not an Artificial Intelligence fake as they initially suspected.
In a statement, the HRC said: “The South African Human Rights Commission (the SAHRC) will today [Thursday] institute proceedings at the Equality Court in Gqeberha against Mr Renaldo Gouws, a Member of Parliament, for the alleged racial utterances relating to online media posts.
“In the video, Mr Gouws allegedly calls for the killing of Black people using extremely offensive and derogatory language. This explicit content, initially published on his YouTube channel in March 2010, was archived despite being deleted and has resurfaced, revealing behaviour that is incompatible with the principles of dignity and equality enshrined in South African law.”
The Commission said it made the decision after it was tagged by aggrieved citizens on social media seeking that it intervene in this matter.
Citizens have also called on the DA to remove Gouws from Parliament.
“Following assessment of the content, the Commission has concluded that utterances allegedly made by Mr Gouws constitute hate speech and/or harassment as contemplated in terms of sections 10 and 11 of the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act 2000 (PEPUDA or Equality Act),” the SAHRC said.
Gouws was sworn in as an MP last week in Cape Town during the first sitting of parliament.
kamogelo.moichela@iol.co.za