Minister under fire for ‘racist remarks’

ActionSA has reported Minister Gayton McKenzie to the South African Human Rights Commission for racist remarks.

“He repeatedly used hateful slurs from the Apartheid era, along with other offensive references that served to degrade and dehumanise black South Africans,” ActionSA said.

“While we hold reservations about the effectiveness of the SAHRC, it remains the constitutionally empowered institution mandated to address such matters.”

ActionSA Member of Parliament (MP), Alan Beesley, said they will follow the prescribed process from the SAHRC.

They are also prepared to independently institute proceedings at the Equality Court in terms of Section 20 of the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act.

Earlier this week, ActionSA joined South Africans in condemning vile remarks directed toward the coloured community in a podcast.

“Today, we do the same in confronting racism in all its forms by holding a sitting Cabinet Minister,” Beesley said.

He said McKenzie is accountable for comments that no reasonable person can defend as anything other than racist and demeaning.

“Racism and the dehumanising of any person, regardless of their race, has no place in South Africa,” he said.

Vuyo Zungula, an MP from the African Transformation Movement, has also laid complaints against McKenzie for tweets containing racist slurs against black South Africans.

He lodged a complaint with the Presidency, Parliament, and the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Ethics.

“Racism in any form or from anyone has no place in our country. We demand accountability,” he said.

McKenzie hit back, saying the campaign to find something racist I ever said was hilarious. “You have now gone 13 years back and can’t bring out one racist thing I ever said,” he said.

“I always and still fight that coloureds and blacks are one people being treated differently mistakenly.”

PA taking legal action against Open Chats Podcast hosts

The complaint against McKenzie came shortly after the Patriotic Alliance (PA) took legal action against Open Chats Podcast hosts Mthokozisi Methula and Sinothanda Kama.

Methula and Kama made remarks about the coloured community, which many people found offensive and racist.

In an episode that aired on 21 July 2025, Methula and Kama referred to the Coloured community as “mentally crazy” and that “Coloured siblings chow (have sex with) each other.”

McKenzie took to social media on Wednesday morning, saying the party would use all of its legal resources to determine what action can be taken against the podcast hosts.

In a letter of demand posted to X, the party’s legal team states that the hosts’ comments “constitute hate speech” and “unlawfully impair the dignity of a protected group.”

Later on Wednesday evening, PA member Liam Jacobs filmed himself laying the charges at the Brooklyn Police Station in Pretoria on McKenzie’s instruction.

McKenzie has also threatened to take the matter to the SABC and DStv, as it “appeared on their platform.”

He says this is because the show was not livestreamed and, therefore, lacked content control before being posted.

“We will notify SABC 2 that they must cancel the podcast; if they don’t, we will go to them, because what [frustrates me most] is that the show was not live,” McKenzie said in a video posted to X.

“Whoever is in charge of content control didn’t see anything wrong, which means that the channel agrees with all those things that are being said about Coloured people.”

However, McKenzie has since withdrawn his statement directed at the SABC and apologised to the public broadcaster as it “has nothing to do with the podcast.”

He added that MultiChoice, which has aired the podcast on its platforms will not be renewing its contract with the content creators.

Following the initial commotion on social media, with many calling for the podcast to be cancelled, the hosts issued a statement apologising for the comments made.

“We acknowledge the hurt caused by the clip that continues to circulate online and would like to communicate our genuine regret for that,” the statement reads.

“The intention was never to cause harm or disrespect the Coloured community. We want to clarify that Open Chats Podcast does not promote or support racism or discrimination.”