Patriotic Alliance PA leader Gayton McKenzie has apologised for hurtful posts he made on X in the past but insists hes not guilty of racism.
McKenzie used the K-word severally in some posts between 2011 and 2015. They resurfaced last week, sparking outrage from social media users and several political parties.
ActionSA has reported him to the South African Human Rights Commission SAHRC while the African Transformation Movement has filed a formal complaint with President Cyril Ramaphosa and Parliament, including its Joint Committee on Ethics and Members Interests.
Gayton McKenzie defends himself amid racism rowIn a series of X posts on Monday 11 August, McKenzie shared screenshots of some of his old posts in which he claimed he was calling out racism. He added that he generally always included myself when speaking about black issues.
I'm the son of a black woman. I have children with a black woman. I fought my whole life for same treatment between black and coloured people because we fought same struggle, he wrote.
The Sport , Arts and Culture Minister also shared a past video of himself calling for unity between black and coloured people.
Coloured people don't enjoy the same privileges as black people in South Africa although we fought the same struggle. This is and has always been my fight. Coloured people are screaming out for help, but no one is hearing them, he wrote.
I can never be guilty of racism. Try some other take down but never racism. I did tweet some insensitive, stupid and hurtful things a decade or two ago. I was a troll and stupid. I cringe when seeing them and I am truly sorry for that. I shall subject myself to the investigation.
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