EFF statement on racist utterances by a DA MP Renaldo Gouws

18 June 2024

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) condemns with the contempt deserving, the racist and homophobic videos recorded by Renaldo Gouws, a Democratic Alliance (DA) Member of Parliament (MP).

It is a well-known fact that Gouws has built his reputation over the past few years on stoking racial hatred towards Africans and for championing fake news around the so-called farm murders. In these videos, Gouws makes fun of HIV positive people, snide remarks about the LGBTQI community, offensive videos about affirmative action and black economic empowerment, and makes comments belittling the African continent and remarking that no one would notice if the continent were to be wiped off the face of the earth.

In more recent postings and comments, Gouws has waged a vicious attack against Mama Joy, a well-known sports supporter, and went to the extent of even calling her a prostitute. He has been a vociferous advocate of right-wing politics in the country, , projecting whites as victims of a so-called backlash by a black government. In almost all of his fiery and offensive videos and comments, Africans are almost exclusively at the receiving end of his vitriol.

Even someone not familiar with South African politics, it would be immediately clear that Gouws holds a highly disdainful view of African people. For him, colonialism and apartheid ended in 1994 and any attempts for redress is reverse racism. In short, he is an advocate for maintaining colonial and apartheid inequalities.

This is not a surprise; a great majority of the beneficiaries of colonialism and apartheid have never transcended their colonial prejudices of superiority. To them, any attempt towards redress is viewed as an attack, because for them African people are inherently inferior and ought to never affirm their right to humanity. This is the reason it is easy for Gouws to call someone as old as Mama Joy a prostitute, or to claim that he 'could easy f*ck a prostitute in return for Malema's death'.

Racists like Gouws have found a political sanctuary in the DA. In the DA, they see themselves and the views they hold finding expression at the highest level of leadership and policy making, and in the DA, they have found a vessel through which their bigoted views are legitimized.

Since Cyril Ramaphosa took office, racism has flourished. Videos such as Gouws, white boys forcing an African man to jump into a coffin, white boys shooting African children and boldly stating they 'thought it was a monkey', white university students giving an African woman urine to drink as a 'joke', these are just a few of the daily doses of racism served in South Africa.

Just as racist Gouws has found a political sanctuary in the DA, so has the African National Congress (ANC) led by Cyril Ramaphosa. While the EFF supports the nationwide calls for Gouws to be removed as a Member of Parliament, we are aware that his removal will not dent the DA's quest to defend the gains of colonialism and apartheid. A much bigger course is the removal of the DA, a prime representative of racists, from being a political player in this country. By extension, a more noble call is for the removal of the ANC from political power, because it is the ANC that gives these racists a veil of legitimacy.

In view of the above, the EFF will be submitting a formal complaint to the Speaker of the National Assembly to look into the ethical conduct of the said racist member of Parliament.

Issued by Leigh-Ann Mathys, National Spokesperson, EFF, 18 June 2024