Gayton WARNS government not to remove him as minister
In a Facebook Live on Sunday, 10 August, Patriotic Alliance leader Gayton McKenzie addressed the backlash of his old racist tweets.
Responding to the growing call for him to step down as his Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, he said: 'I work day and night for the people of South Africa. I make sure that this portfolio shines, because I have been given an opportunity by President Ramaphosa. The last thing I wanted to do was to humiliate him and make him answer things on my behalf.
'If for some reason I'm going to the ground and I'm no longer minister…You don't know what's coming.
'Let me tell you something…the time for coloured people being second-class citizens is over…We don't want to be treated better than black people, because they are our brothers and sisters. We want to be treated equally. Ek baiza nie vir julle nie [I'm not scared of you]'.
Over the past few days, several political parties have called for Gayton McKenzie to be held accountable for his old social media posts.
The Democratic Alliance leader John Steenhuisen stated that Gayton's racial slurs 'has no place in South Africa'.
Speaking in Johannesburg on Monday, he said: 'I think there's an extra duty of care on leaders in society to be careful about what they say and how they say it.
'And to ensure that we don't divide people and that we don't use these racial epithets.'
Steenhuisen implied that Gayton needed to face the same consequences as others – like former DA MP Renaldo Gouws – who had been removed from office over controversial comments.
'It cannot be all right for one person to say something just because they have a certain skin colour. But it's not right for another person to say something. We need to be consistent in this.
'These terms are hurtful, hateful, and have no place in democratic discourse'.
Meanwhile, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) have called for Gayton's resignation as minister, while ActionSA has reported him to the South African Human Rights Commission.
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