McKenzie investigated for using racial slur

The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has said that Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie’s offensive social media posts show prima facie evidence of violating the Equality Act, as the use of the k-word slur is “unutterable” in South Africa.

This follows social media posts made by McKenzie, containing the slur, resurfaced on social media at the beginning of August.

After receiving several complaints from the public and political parties in South Africa, the SAHRC announced that it would investigate the posts made by the Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture.

“Following assessments of the contents of the posts, the Commission is of the view that the utterances made by Minister McKenzie are prima facie violations of the Equality Act,” it said.

This means that, upon first impression, the content of the posts seems to violate the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act (Equality Act).

As a result, the commission has sent an allegation letter to McKenzie. After receiving a response, it says it will determine the best way forward, which may “include instituting procedures in the Equality Court.”

The commission added that while South Africans may exercise their right to freedom of expression, this is not absolute.

“Hate speech is prohibited in terms of the Equality Act, and the Prevention and Combating of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Act,” the SAHRC noted.

In an interview with Newzroom Afrika, SAHRC Commissioner Professor Tshepo Madlingozi said that the k-word slur has been deemed unlawful in the country.

“The use of the k-word has been declared unlawful, to quote the constitutional court, ‘those words are completely unutterable,’ whether it is a joke or as hyperbole,” he said.

Madlingozi added that some of McKenzie’s statements may be considered harassment according to the Equality Act.

“Harassment is defined as making utterances that create a hostile environment or seek to demean a group based on one of the prohibited grounds, including origin.”

Following the onslaught of parties publicly accusing the Minister of blatant racism, McKenzie said that he “could never be guilty of racism” but was guilty of posting “insensitive, stupid, and hurtful things a decade or two ago.”

“You have now gone 13 years back and can’t bring out one racist thing I ever said. I always and still fight that coloureds and blacks are one people being treated differently mistakenly,” he said in an earlier post.

“I was a troll & stupid. I cringe when seeing them, and I am truly sorry for that. I shall subject myself to the investigation.”

McKenzie calls out podcasters for insensitive comments

McKenzie’s social media posts, some of which are over a decade old, have only recently come to light following his reaction to offensive remarks made by Open Chats Podcast hosts Mthokozisi Methula and Sinothanda Kama.

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.”

After the comments caught McKenzie’s attention, he took to social media to announce that his party would be exhausting all its legal resources to determine what action could be taken against the hosts.

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

Several political parties sided with the Patriotic Alliance leader, reporting the content creators’ comments to the SAHRC.

The Open Chats Podcast issued a formal apology, acknowledging the “hurt caused by the clip that continues to circulate online,” and that the “intention was never to cause harm or disrespect the Coloured community.”

Despite the statement, the SAHRC’s chairperson, Chris Nissen, rejected the content creators’ apology and said it would launch an investigation into the comments.

“They’ve apologised, but we said no, you cannot do hate speech and racist comments and then apologise afterwards as if nothing happened,” he said.