Suspended DA member Renaldo Gouws facing Equality Court battle

The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has signalled its intention to seek moral justice against newly sworn-in Member of Parliament Renaldo Gouws.

The Youtuber-turned-politician was suspended on Thursday by the Democratic Alliance after a video from March 2010 resurfaced where the controversial commentator is heard using multiple racial slurs.

The video and his subsequent suspension have prompted the SAHRC to approach the court which defends South Africans against discrimination.

Gouws’ language was “extremely offensive”

The SAHRC released a statement at midday on Thursday, 20 June, outlining their intentions.

“The SAHRC will today institute proceedings at the Equality Court in Gqeberha against Mr Renaldo Gouws, a Member of Parliament, for the alleged racial utterances relating to online media posts,” stated the Commission.

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

The statement described the content of the video as well as its date of release, calling the language used by Gouws as “extremely offensive”.

“This explicit content, initially published on his YouTube channel in March 2010, was archived despite being deleted and has resurfaced, revealing behaviour that is incompatible with the principles of dignity and equality enshrined in South African law,” the statement reads.

The SAHRC explained that that they had been contacted by enraged citizens on social media asking them to intervene in the matter.

“Following assessment of the content, the Commission has concluded that utterances allegedly made by Mr Gouws constitute hate speech,” they said.

PA has an eagle’s eye on proceedings

The Patriotic Alliance (PA) had earlier indicated that they would also be approaching the Equality Court but have chosen to leave it to the SAHRC.

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

PA spokesperson Steve Motale told The Citizen, “In the light of this development, which the PA highly supports, we will not be taking any further action. We will however keep an eagle’s eye on how the case proceeds in the Equality Court.”

Suspended with immediate effect

Gouws’ party confirmed the authenticity of the video and moved to suspend the 41-year-old pending an internal investigation.

“The DA Federal Executive has therefore suspended Gouws with immediate effect while he faces disciplinary charges before the party’s Federal Legal Commission,” read the party’s statement.