Gareth Cliff says that racism is at the bottom of South Africans' list of priorities. Picture: Gallo Images / Rapport / Deon Raath
Controversial podcaster Gareth Cliff is unbothered by the loss of his Nando’s sponsorship over his treatment of a guest on one of his shows last week.
The fast-food franchiser announced it has ended its long-term relationship with Cliff and his weekly show, The Burning Platform, citing their distaste with how he handled an interview with Mudzuli Rakhivhane, spokesperson for political organisation ONE SA.
Cliff faces mounting criticism for cutting Rakhivhane off mid-sentence as she repeatedly tried to argue how her race plays a role in how she and others like her are treated by local government. Cliff dismissed this narrative by saying her individual experience does not matter.
Cliff declined to respond directly to The Citizen‘s questions over the weekend, but has promised to openly address the issue when the dust has settled, following the public uproar. He did briefly address the issue with his listeners during a live broadcast of his Cliffcentral.com breakfast show on Monday, and said that there are no hard feelings on his part regarding Nando’s’ decision to end its sponsorship deal with him.
“I guess this one just had a little bit too much peri-peri for them,” he said between guffaws from his co-hosts. “… but we will keep going with these difficult conversations, we are not going to stop. The Burning platform will continue. Or maybe we should call it the Burnt Platform now… We will all continue to enjoy Nando’s chicken and so should you.”
Cliff also expressed that he is sorry to see the the end of a “really great” relationship which began when Cliff Central was founded.
“They are of course within their rights to go where their conscience dictates.”
Also Read: Gareth Cliff to be reported to SAHRC over ‘racist incident’
The words “racism” and “sexism” appear in many of the social media comments about the incident, and neither Cliff nor Rakhivhane were short of defenders in what began as a discussion about the local government election.
Rakhivhane shared her thoughts on the whole ordeal in a Twitter thread on Monday after “Gareth Cliff” spent most of the weekend trending with many coming to her defence.
“This discussion was a mixed bag. There were glimmers of coherence as I mentioned in some of the issues I was able to address. And there were moments of erasure, disrespect, racism, sexism. The notion that I deserved that treatment because I agreed to the interview is dangerous,” she lamented, arguing that it is her job to reach as many voters as possible on as many platforms as possible.
This is in response to some arguments that she shouldn’t have agreed to be interviewed by Cliff if she couldn’t handle the robust debate that his show is known for.
‘Well you shouldn’t have been there’ responses are concerning. Well then, where must we be? I am asking to be treated with dignity and respect. To be able to speak and for my expertise, background, knowledge and experiences to matter.
Mudzuli Rakhivhane spokesperson for ONE SA
Central to the discussion around Cliff’s explosive interview has been the notion that black women in South Africa face the unique experience of being constantly spoken down to and interrupted in conversations with white people, particularly those who are wealthy men.
So says Kim Heller, political analyst and author of the book No White Lies.
Rakhivhane was a guest, along with Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen. The politician has been bashed for the passive cues he gave during the interview, suggesting he agreed with Cliff’s behaviour and his opinion that Rakhivhane’s experience as a black woman was irrelevant to a discussion about local government service delivery.
Steenhuisen has dismissed this backlash as people policing his facial expressions.
“The conversation was a showcase of racism not only by Cliff but by the leader of the DA, who made no attempt to stop or object to the objectionable tirade of Gareth Cliff,” says Heller.
The viewpoint highlighted during the Cliff’s show last week that all South Africans live an equal opportunity experience that is emphatically not defined by race is shared among affluent white people, says Heller. This is because for those who benefit from an socio-economic system that favours them, discussing race is inconvenient.
“Gareth Cliff showed his true colours when he completely undermined the lived experience of racism by a young black South African woman. Gareth exhibited the classic tell-tale signs of white supremacy, including arrogance, negation of a black woman’s views, lack of empathy, and a desire to control the conversation.”
Heller is disappointed that despite the Nando’s brand having prided itself in showing ‘strength and fire’ in its public interactions, its statement about Cliff this weekend was comparatively unseasoned and weak.
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