A South African MP has been suspended by his party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), after a series of old clips of him spewing violent racist language against black people surfaced online.
Renaldo Gouws initially insinuated that one of the videos was faked and denied this, but a statement from the public prosecutor on Thursday said it was “real and not fake”.
In the video, Mr. Gouws, who was sworn into Parliament less than a week ago, repeatedly uses a local slur along with the n-word and calls for the death of black people.
It comes at a difficult time for President Cyril Ramaphosa as he has agreed to form a new coalition government with the DA.
The DA, a center-right party, has continually faced accusations of racism from critics who say the party only wants to protect the interests of the white minority population – a charge it denies.
The public prosecutor has said that Mr Gouws will face “disciplinary charges”.
It follows another resurfaced fragment, which came out earlier this week, in which Mr Gouws makes racially charged comments.
In the video he suggested that white people were subject to a reverse apartheid.
He said: ‘If Africa had to disappear from the face of the earth, no one would do it [expletive] notification”.
More than 40,000 people have signed an online petition calling for his resignation as MP.
On Monday, after the first clip was released, the 41-year-old claimed he was not racist and apologized to X, saying he had spoken in a “rude” and “hostile” manner.
“I refute any claims that I am racist or racist. However, I can see how my message was distorted in the way it was delivered by me and I take full responsibility for the actions of my younger and immature self,” he said.
John Steenhuisen, the leader of the DA, previously defended Mr Gouws, but it is unclear whether he has seen the latest video in which Mr Gouws calls for the deaths of black people.
Senior DA official and former party leader Helen Zille told local media on Wednesday: “Such language is unjustifiable and unacceptable. I do not see how such offensive language can be justified.”
Mr Gouws is a former councilor in Nelson Mandela Bay ward two and a popular social media figure who has been known to stir up controversy.
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