WATCH | Renaldo Gouws apologises, says SAHRC dropped hate-speech case

Gqeberha politician Renaldo Gouws has posted a video in which he apologises for the offence he caused when he went on a rampage against EFF leader Julius Malema, using language he acknowledges was "deeply hurtful" to black South Africans.

This comes after he said he reached a settlement with the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) to withdraw a case of hate speech against him it had lodged with the Equality Court. 

He posted on X: "The commission and I have reached an out-of-court settlement. This means they will withdraw the hate-speech case against me before the Equality Court.  One of the requirements is to make an apology video." 

He shared the video on that platform and on YouTube, adding the SAHRC intended to issue a statement soon.

Gouws landed in hot water when footage from 2010 emerged in which he angrily complained about Malema singing "Kill the Boer; Kill the farmer". While saying the reverse, he used the k-word,  referred to Malema as a "black idiot" and referred to those who sang with him as "barbaric people".

In his apology, the sacked DA MP said he continued to maintain  the chant was insensitive and divisive.

"However, I acknowledge my critique itself was insensitive, offensive, divisive and deeply hurtful towards black people. It was unacceptable for me to have used such violent language to make my point.

"I am sorry for the pain, anger and trauma my words have caused [and] for trying to justify, minimise and sanitise them."

Gouws, who listed some charitable work he had been involved in over the past 15 years, said he had undergone reflection over his words and was regretful for not educating himself on certain topics before expressing an opinion while in a rage.

"It took me some time to look at the other side of the coin and to put myself in someone else's shoes and to completely understand the effects the history of the country has had on all of us."

Roscoe Palm, a Good party councillor in Cape Town and former journalist who last year publicised the Gouws video, questioned the sincerity of the apology by the "YouTube provocateur".

"Gouws’s apology, offered not out of remorse but as a legal obligation, rings hollow. It attempts to downplay rather than atone for his actions. It is a half-hearted and insincere apology. The SAHRC must explain what public interest was served by reaching a settlement."

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