Mckenzie under fire — EFF, ActionSA demand minister’s head over k-word scandal

Gayton McKenzie

Cape Town – Several political parties, including the EFF and ActionSA, have called for President Cyril Ramaphosa to remove Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie over resurfaced social media posts from 2013 in which he repeatedly used the K-word to refer to black people.

The EFF condemned the remarks as deliberate anti-Black prejudice and accused McKenzie of hypocrisy, citing his outrage over offensive comments about Coloured people.

“The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) calls for the immediate removal of Gayton McKenzie as Minister of Sports, Arts & Culture and a public apology to all Black South Africans for his repeated use of racial slurs and degrading stereotypes,” the party’s spokesperson Sinawo Thambi said in a statement on Saturday.

“These are not minor lapses or slips of the tongue, they are deliberate, repeated, and deeply harmful expressions of anti-Black prejudice.”

Thambo contrasted McKenzie’s outrage over derogatory comments about Coloured people with his own past use of anti-Black slurs, saying this double standard undermines his credibility on non-racialism.

He added that the remarks were made years after McKenzie’s release from prison, indicating he is not as “rehabilitated” as he claims and still harbours divisive and prejudiced views.

Meanwhile, ActionSA lodged a formal complaint with the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) and warned it may escalate the matter to the Equality Court under the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act.

ActionSA said it was acting to hold a sitting Cabinet minister accountable for “racist and demeaning” comments, noting it had also recently condemned derogatory remarks directed at the Coloured community and filed a separate complaint against Minister Dean Macpherson for alleged racially charged attacks.

“Earlier this week, ActionSA joined South Africans in condemning vile and repugnant remarks directed toward the coloured community. Today, we do the same in confronting racism in all its forms by holding a sitting Cabinet Minister accountable for comments that no reasonable person can defend as anything other than racist and demeaning,” ActionSA’s member of parliament Alan Beesley said.

McKenzie has defended himself, saying the posts are over a decade old and insisting he has always promoted unity between Coloured and Black people.

Patriotic Alliance deputy president Kenny Kunene also rejected the racism allegations, describing them as politically motivated. 

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