Renaldo Gouws no longer a DA MP: Here’s how much he is set to lose out on

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has confirmed that the party’s federal executive has unanimously resolved to terminate Renaldo Gouws’ membership.

DA national spokesperson Willie Aucamp said Gouws has been formally informed of this decision.

“He therefore forfeits his Democratic Alliance seat in Parliament.”

Gouws will forfeit several tax-payer funded benefits including a R1.27 million a year (over R100 000 a month) salary, subsidised medical aid and free flights.

Contraventions by Renaldo Gouws

The decision follows a thorough investigation conducted by the DA’s Federal Legal Commission (FLC) into the allegations against Gouws.

“The FLC found Mr Gouws guilty of contravening several sections of the DA’s constitution.

“The DA remains committed to upholding its values of accountability, non-racialism, and respect for all South Africans,” Aucamp said.

ALSO READ: Renaldo Gouws ‘will be removed as an MP if K word video is true’ – Zille

Video of Gouws using the K-word

Gouws was suspended in June after a 2010 video of him making racial comments using the K-word surfaced on social media just days after he was sworn in as a DA MP.

He landed in hot water again after a second video showed the seemingly angry DA MP referring to black South Africans by the K-word.

“Alright, so there’s a couple of things I want to say, kill the f**king  k***ers. Kill all the f***ing n***ers. That’s all I’ve got to say. Kill the f***ing  k***ers, kill all the f***ing n***ers.”

Following Gouws’ suspension, the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) said it would be instituting proceedings at the Equality Court in Gqeberha.

The SAHRC said utterances made by Mr Gouws constitute hate speech and/or harassment as contemplated in terms of sections 10 and 11 of the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act 2000 (PEPUDA or Equality Act).

Apology

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

“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.”

‘Not racist’

Gouws denied allegations of being racist.

“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,” Gouws said.

“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.”

ALSO READ: DA suspends MP Renaldo Gouws over racist K-word video