SAHRC takes Renaldo Gouws to court for racism scandal
While the DA takes disciplinary action against Renaldo Gouws over his racist videos, he could still earn his lucrative MP salary…
\Today, the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) will initiate proceedings at the Equality Court in Gqeberha against Renaldo Gouws, a Member of Parliament, over alleged racially inflammatory remarks in an online video.
The video, originally uploaded to YouTube in March 2010, shows Gouws making derogatory and violent statements about Black people.
CONTENT OF RENALDO GOUWS VIDEO
In the resurfaced video, Gouws allegedly uses extremely offensive language, explicitly calling for the killing of Black individuals. Despite its initial deletion, the video was archived and has come to light again.
It reportedly includes statements such as: “There’s a couple of things I want to say, okay, kill all the f#$%ng K@#$%rs, kill all the f#$%@ng N#@#$%ers, that’s all that I’ve got to f@#$%ng say. Kill all the f#$%#ng n#@#$$%rs.”
These statements have been identified as violating the principles of dignity and equality enshrined in South African law. Following the video’s resurgence, aggrieved citizens called on the SAHRC via social media to intervene.
After reviewing the content, the Commission determined that the utterances attributed to Gouws constitute hate speech and harassment under sections 10 and 11 of the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act 2000 (PEPUDA).
LEGAL PROCEEDINGS AND RESPONSIBILITIES
The SAHRC is acting under section 13(3)(b) of the South African Human Rights Commission Act 40 of 2013, which authorises it to initiate court proceedings. This step is particularly significant given Gouws’ position as a Member of Parliament, a role that demands adherence to the Constitution’s principles of human dignity, equality, and non-discrimination.
In response to the controversy, the Democratic Alliance (DA) has promptly suspended Gouws. The suspension followed the DA’s verification of the video’s authenticity.
In a statement released on Thursday, the DA confirmed the video’s genuineness, contradicting initial suspicions of it being fake.
“The DA has established that the video, in which Renaldo Gouws uses execrable language, is in fact genuine and not a fake as initially suspected.
“The DA Federal Executive has therefore suspended Mr Gouws with immediate effect while he faces disciplinary charges before the Party’s Federal Legal Commission,” stated the statement.