The South African Human Rights Commission has thrown the book at former DA MP Renaldo Gouws over a video that it claims constitutes hate speech, asking that he be ordered to apologise, be fined R100,000, undergo diversity training and be given 20 hours’ community service.
But Gouws has persisted in court papers that what he said was taken out of context, and that he never had the intention to call for the killing of black people or be hurtful or harmful or to incite harm or propagate hatred.
In September, the DA’s highest decision-making body, the Federal Executive, unanimously decided to terminate Gouws’s membership, ending his brief three-month career as a parliamentarian.
The decision follows a comprehensive investigation by the party’s Federal Legal Commission.
In the video that is the subject of the Equality Court complaint, Gouws is 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!”
But in papers filed before the Gqeberha Equality Court he said it was “patently false” that he called for the killing of black people in the video, which had surfaced on social media shortly after he was sworn in.
He said the video was only a snippet and by itself conveyed a “completely wrong impression” of what he intended. Online news website IOL was also sanctioned by the Press Council for not showing the full video.
“I had no intention to be hurtful or harmful to incite harm or propagate hatred,” Gouws said in his affidavit before the court. “In fact I specifically state in the video that I did not mean anything that I had said but I wanted to evoke a response.”
He said he was willing to testify before the Equality Court if necessary.
“It is patently false that I called for the killing of black people,” he said.
In September, his DA membership was terminated for bringing the party into disrepute based on the content of the video.
In court papers Gouws argued that he used the words as a “justifiable rhetoric device to emphasise his view”.
His legal team initially argued that there had been an undue delay in bringing a case against him, but this was abandoned on Thursday (21 November).
Acting Judge Olaf Ronaasen postponed the matter for trial until May 2025. An exact date is yet to be determined.
The Eastern Cape manager of the SAHRC, Dr Eileen Carter, said in her affidavit setting out the grounds for the complaint that it “concerns conduct that constitutes hate speech and/or harassment” as contemplated in the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act. She described the content of the video as “egregiously racist remarks”.
The Eastern Cape manager for the Human Rights Commission, Dr Eileen Carter, and the commission’s equality commissioner, Professor Tshepo Madlingozi, meet their legal team led by advocate Ben Winks at the Equality Court on 21 November 2024. (Photo: Deon Ferreira)
According to court papers the commission is seeking an order declaring Gouws’s video to be hate speech and harassment on the basis of race.
The commission has also asked the court to find that the cause of action [hate speech] arises when the harmful content is accessed, read and the harm is felt.
Carter said in her affidavit that the commission believes a prima facie case exists that the video constituted hate speech.
She continued that the SAHRC acknowledged that the video was first published more than a decade ago. However, the accessibility of online content made its impact continuous and pervasive.
“The offending statements have remained accessible online, allowing for ongoing harm each time they are accessed and viewed,” she said.
She added that it was also important for the court to address the matter. She said the k-word and the n-word used by Gouws had no “neutral meaning” and the commission did not admit that he used it as a justifiable rhetorical expression. He had “enhanced” the violence by using the adjective “fucking”.
Gouws, Carter said, had been unremorseful and “arrogantly” defended his statements on X.
Read more: Axed DA MP Renaldo Gouws to explore legal, ethical challenge to membership termination
The commission’s equality commissioner, Professor Tshepo Madlingozi, who also attended Thursday’s hearing, said that 30 years into South Africa’s democracy there was no place for language such as that used by Gouws. “We will go after anyone who does this,” he said, adding that they had filed similar complaints against alleged Ponzi scheme fraudster Louis Liebenberg and an EFF councillor.
Gouws attended the hearing, but said he was not allowed to comment because the matter was sub judice. DM