‘I was wrong’: Gayton McKenzie backtracks after supporting DA MP Renaldo Gouws
Patriotic Alliance leader and Member of Parliament, Gayton McKenzie, has conceded that he was wrong to support Democratic Alliance MP, Renaldo Gouws.
Gouws has been in the spotlight after his swearing-in as an MP raised ire due to a racist video he shared on social media more than a decade ago.
He has responded to comments over the initial video, refuting claims of racism. The first video has been deleted.
However, IOL has obtained a new video in which Gouws can be heard making racial slurs.
In the video first published to his YouTube channel and subsequently deleted, Gouws said: “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!”
CALLS FOR REMOVAL
The Economic Freedom Fighters previously called for Gouws to be stripped of his title.
According to the EFF, Gouws has “built his reputation over the past few years on stoking racial hatred towards Africans” and has been a vocal proponent of what the party described as “fake news around the so-called farm murders”.
Initially in Gouws’ defence, McKenzie called on South Africans not to the cancel the MP.
In a post on X on Tuesday (previously known as Twitter), McKenzie said: “I can’t stand this guy, he is not a good person in my opinion, he never let a day pass without bringing up my past during campaigning. He reminded people everyday that I once was a criminal but 2 wanna cancel or remove him frm parliament 4 something he said 16 years ago is wrong (sic)”.
“People change, people become better, most of us live with regret for the things we said or did, some amongst us have been racist or said racist things maybe once many years ago, I don’t thing we should destroy the future of people for something that happened so many years ago,” McKenzie said.
He has since backtracked.
A day after that post, McKenzie raised the proverbial white flag and issued an apology.
“I was wrong about @RenaldoGouws and would like to apologise, someone very close to him confirmed that he hates Black people still and send us his racist video. I apologise again for coming up for him. I should have kept my ideas of redemption to people that are truly remorseful,” the post read.
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