Renaldo Gouws ‘hate speech’ row — SAHRC seeks apology, community service, R100,000 fine for ex-MP

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)