Screenshots of Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture Gayton McKenzie’s previous posts, some of which included the K-word, recently resurfaced online, prompting backlash.
This comes after McKenzie was among the most vocal critics of Open Chats Podcast hosts who made derogatory claims that coloured people of color practice incest and are mentally deranged. The show has since issued two apologies for the comments. McKenzie’s party, the PA, has opened a case of crimen injuria, and the matter is being investigated by the SA Human Rights Commission.
ActionSA has reported McKenzie to the South African Human Rights Commission for racist remarks in which they claim he repeatedly used hateful slurs from the Apartheid era and other offensive references degrading black South Africans. They stated, “Racism and the dehumanising of any person, regardless of their race, has no place in South Africa.”
Kenny said McKenzie has never been racist since he has known him. “This man, Gayton McKenzie, has never been, is not, and will never be a racist,” Kunene said. “His mother is a South Sotho woman from Batho location in Mangaung and his father is coloured. I know him better than all of you.” He added, “Even in prison he brought together a team for an exposé made up of Black, White, Indian, and coloured inmates. Your campaign, Tony Irrelevant Yengeni, and your cronies will never succeed. We see you.”
McKenzie defended himself, saying, “This whole campaign to find something racist I ever said is hilarious because you have now gone back 13 years and can’t find one racist thing I ever said. I always have and still fight that coloureds and blacks are one people being treated differently by mistake.”
Cece Smith 