SAHRC heads to Equality Court over Gouws' racist comments

JOHANNESBURG - The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) is taking disgraced Democratic Alliance member of Parliament (MP) Renaldo Gouws to court over racist comments he made in a video.

A second video clip recently emerged showing Gouws using a derogatory term used during apartheid to refer to black South Africans.

Gouws who was recently sworn in as an (MP) trended on social media earlier this week over a video he made in 2009, where he claimed white South Africans were subjected to reverse apartheid.

Things have since worsened for Gouws who on Wednesday, was not only suspended by the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) federal executive but is now also facing legal action.

The SAHRC said it would on Thursday head to the Equality Court to institute proceedings against him

"Following assessment of the content, the commission has concluded that utterances allegedly 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)," said spokesperson Wisani Baloyi.

The commission said Gouws’ recently uncovered video revealed behaviour incompatible with the principles of dignity and equality enshrined in South African law.