‘I’m not racist,’ says DA MP Renaldo Gouws as 35,000 people sign petition for his removal

Past social media posts have come back to haunt Renaldo Gouws, who was just sworn in as a Democratic Alliance (DA) MP on Friday.

At least 35,000 South Africans have signed a petition calling for his removal from Parliament, accusing him of being racist.

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An old video of a seemingly angry Gouws making comparisons between apartheid and democratic South Africa has emerged, and his apology does not seem to be enough.

Strong language warning!

In the video, Gouws says: “Wow, and people say it was bad back during apartheid, Jesus. You know, white people in this country are going through reverse apartheid. Say what the F you want. Back in the day, black people were beaten and killed, what has changed?

“Today white people are beaten, killed and discriminated against. What’s the f**king difference? Do tell me. Call me a f**king racist if you want, but you come and live in this f**king country, and you, a white individual, come and live here and tell me that you aren’t discriminated against and that you aren’t f**king blamed for things that happened in the past, even though I had no f**king hand in it.”

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His video has caused an uproar, as some dig up more social media posts they deem problematic.

Watch Gouws’ response below

Renaldo Gouws responds after South Africans petition Parliament to remove him over racist remarks…who is this other person who's in another province he's referring to? I thought his video were all made in Cape Town 🤔 pic.twitter.com/hvQdOXYhYD

— Peché Africa 🇿🇦 (@pmcafrica) June 17, 2024

Kimberly Jones has started an online petition calling for parliament to remove him, and it is gaining traction. At least 34,963 angry South Africans had already signed it at the time of publishing.

“We implore the Parliament of South Africa to reconsider the membership of Mr Renaldo Gouws and set a strong precedent against racism. Let’s press for a Parliament that is truly representative of our democratic values and aspirations. Please sign this petition to make a stand against racism and division in our polity,” reads part of the petition.

Renaldo Gouws: ‘I am not racist’

Gouws said claims of him being racist were false, and that he has addressed the video clip before.

He apologised for his “crass and hostile” message.

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“A snippet of a video that I posted 16 years ago (back in 2009) when I was young and still a student has been recycled and posted on social media over the last few days,” said Gouws.

“I addressed this snippet in 2016 and again in 2020 when approached by the media when it was posted on social media. (Articles on this can be Googled). This was at the time when then President Zuma and then Youth Leader, Malema were singing songs about killing people based on their race.”

In 2022, the Equality Court ruled that the singing of “Kill the Boer – Kill the Farmer” is not hate speech.

Although Gouws said he had apologised before for the same video clip, he denied allegations of being racist.

“Before this and before these snippets were used publicly against me, I posted a lengthy Facebook post from 2013 in which I apologised for how I delivered my message in my videos (angry, hostile, confrontational and crass).

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“I refute any claims of racism or being a racist. I can, however, see how my message was distorted in the way it was delivered by me and I take full responsibility for the actions of my younger and immature self. For that, I apologise unreservedly.”