As racial hurt and hatred burst out in SA this week, four men added their two cents’ worth... GARETH CLIFFGareth Cliff landed in hot water after a tweet that was seen as suggesting that racist social media posts fell under free speech.Cliff retweeted a poll that asked if racist social media should be criminalised, adding: "People really don't understand free speech at all."Twitter users engaged him, among them former colleague DJ Fresh, who tweeted: "@GarethCliff #FreeSpeech vs. #HateSpeech bro ... Easy to blur the lines if you were never really a victim of the one!!"Some followers called for a boycott of Idols South Africa, on which Cliff is a judge.Cliff immediately offered an apology, referring to himself as an "insensitive a**hole" in a tweet on Tuesday. On Thursday, he published a blog in which he said that, as a "white guy", he was mindful that he "inherit[ed] a system biased in my favour".Cliff also revealed that he had "only ever voted for the ANC".Following the furore, M-Net said it would be "reviewing his future employment with the company". Early yesterday morning, it dropped Cliff as a judge on Idols. CHRIS HARTstory_article_right1Standard Bank economist Chris Hart felt the wrath of the Twittersphere following his tweet saying: "More than 25 years after Apartheid ended, the victims are increasing along with a sense of entitlement and hatred towards minorities ... "In the ensuing uproar , Standard Bank distanced itself from Hart's statement , referring to it as "factually incorrect" , making "inaccurate assumptions about South Africa" and having "racist undertones".Hart apologised, saying his tweet had "caused offense". He went on to say: "I apologize wholeheartedly. Meant to be read in context of slow growth."That has not stopped him from being suspended by the bank "pending an inquiry".In the wake of the furore, Hart's qualifications came under scrutiny.His tertiary transcript trended on Twitter, revealing his higher diploma in education and his BCom.Even former Reserve Bank governor Tito Mboweni weighed in, tweeting: "Chris Hart: if you don't have an economics degree, you really fooled me for YEARS. Shem man. Not good. Please tell me you graduated in Econ!" ANDREW BARNES:story_article_right2On Wednesday, eNCA senior anchor Andrew Barnes remarked on Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga's English pronunciation. During a link after a snippet featuring a speech by the minister, Barnes was heard to say: "Maybe someone should have a word with the basic education minister about how to pronounce the word 'epitome'."Following a tweet by sport and recreation spokesman Esethu Hasane, showing the clip and questioning Barnes's comment, the Twittersphere called on eNCA to act against Barnes.On Thursday, eNCA released a statement saying Barnes's comments were "not only hurtful and unnecessary, but deeply insensitive". Barnes has been taken off air, but not suspended. Vasili Vass, head of the channel's corporate affairs, said it had "undertaken an internal disciplinary process which is confidential".He would not be drawn on expected time frames, saying only that the matter would be dealt with "expeditiously". VELAPHI KHUMALOstory_article_right3On Facebook, Gauteng public servant Velaphi Khumalo called for the cleansing of white people from South Africa, stating: "We must act as Hitler did to the Jews."His post went on to say that he was "sceptical even of those [white people] within our movement the ANC", and revealed that he planned to "unfriend all white people".After the post went viral, Khumalo was publicly called to order by his employer, the Gauteng sports, arts, culture and recreation department, which said his comments were "hateful".Department spokeswoman Nomazwe Ntlokwana said Khumalo - who was employed at the department's Soweto hub - has been suspended with pay pending a formal disciplinary hearing.Ntlokwana said the sports promotion officer, who had been employed since last year, had been asked to hand in all government assets, including a phone, which has subsequently made him difficult to contact...