DA member Renaldo Gouws’s appointment as the deputy spokesperson for two portfolios – tourism and the auditor-general – has been described as “apparent dissonance” and “a spectacle to behold”.
Last month, the DA suspended Gouws from party activities after establishing that an exposé by IOL in which he utters racist comments was legitimate and not AI or fake.
In the video, Gouws can be heard saying “Alright so there’s a couple of things I want to say. Kill the f***ing k*****s, kill all the f***ing n*****s. That’s all I gotta f***ing say.”
The DA initially came to his defence, saying his suspension wouldn’t stop him from fulfilling his duties as an MP.
His appointment came as the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) case against him is expected to be heard in the Equality Court.
Stellenbosch University Law Trust Chair in Social Justice at the Faculty of Law, Professor Thuli Madonsela, said the party “must have some explanation for this apparent dissonance”.
“Uprooting racism and structural racial inequality is at the core of the South African transformative constitutionalism project that flows from our Constitution. For this reason, an allegation of racism is a serious matter.
Typically, allegations of serious transgressions lead to suspensions.
“Furthermore, I know no case of a person being given additional responsibilities with the impact of elevating their status in an organisation while on suspension,” she said.
“That said, we must accept that there is a lacuna regarding the do’s and dont’s of dealing with MPs that are under a cloud of suspected or alleged ethical violations.
“Parliament needs to address this possibly with the help of the Public Service Commission and the public protector... The failure of implementation of Chapter 5 of the Equality Act, 24 years later, is a major reason for this and related lacunas.
“It’s time for the people to put social accountability pressure on the government to implement Chapter 5 with deliberate speed,” she said.
The SAHRC instituted proceedings against Gouws at the Equality Court in Gqeberha. SAHRC spokesperson Wisani Baloyi said: “The matter is currently in court and we are awaiting the directions (on the) hearing date.”
Enquiries to Gouws had not been answered by deadline on Thursday.
That Gouws was still in Parliament was an outrage, said policy analyst and human rights activist Nkosikhulule Nyembezi.
“By allowing him to stay in the Parliament while under investigation, possibly until after October, DA’s most senior figures are required once again to parrot nonsense in public, contradicting the words they had uttered no more than a season earlier, just to accommodate him (literally so).
“Defenders of the Parliament squatter in the DA say it is no different from the way other public representatives stayed in the post while the DA party – not the country – hand-picked a new replacement.
“The citizens have voted for change, not continuity, and they have rejected Gouws after these serious complaints because they decided that he lacked the basic integrity to do the job, that he could not be trusted with the task.
“Like a vaudeville hypnotist who can make his subjects launch custard pies into their own faces, Gouws’s ability to mesmerise his subordinates and superiors into idiocy – even now – is a spectacle to behold,” said Nyembezi.
ANC Western Cape spokesperson Khalid Sayed said Gouws’s appointment was “completely deplorable and unacceptable”.
“The DA should have first allowed the disciplinary and investigative processes to conclude before deciding whether it will allow him to take up any active positions in the National Assembly,” Sayed said.
Cape Times