Petition to oust DA MP Renaldo Gouws for resurfaced racial video

At least 15,000 people have signed a petition to have DA MP Renaldo Gouws removed from parliament for racial remarks in a video he shared more than 15 years ago.

The Nelson Mandela Bay DA councillor was among DA members sworn in in the National Assembly on Friday. 

Gouws trended on social media on Youth Day when a video of his views on black South Africans 15 years ago resurfaced.

In the video, Gouws implied while white people are painted as the enemy, “if Africa had to disappear off the face of the earth, no-one would f***** notice”.

The petition on Change.org, started by Kimberly Jones, calls for parliament to reconsider Gouws’ membership in the assembly as his “racist remarks” could regress the country and negatively influence others.

“The recent videos of Gouws circulating on social media, where he spews racial remarks against people of colour, are a stark reminder of how quickly we can regress if such behaviour is left unchecked.

“To enable successful governance in a diverse democratic society it is essential that all MPs adhere to principles of respect, understanding and equality. The harmful and divisive discourse propagated by Gouws not only stymies our progress but can potentially inspire others in the wrong direction,” said the petition.

TimesLIVE reported on the video in 2020 where Gouws said he was reacting to the singing of Kill the Boer by EFF leader Julius Malema, but that the video resurfaced to tarnish his name. He said he regretted the “colourful language” he used and realised debating was a better way of expressing himself than angry ranting.

In a since-deleted post on X, Gouws said on Sunday it was ironic that the same person who sang Kill The Boer had returned to parliament for the third time.

“Yet with all of this being said, for some reason, I am the problem for raising these uncomfortable truths 16 years ago. Yes, I regret the colourful language used, but I suppose being 25 years old at the time and hearing the president and his youth leader, at the time, singing songs about killing me would make any reasonable person upset.

“Anyway, have a lovely public holiday and please drink a panado for the chest pains if a video from 16 years ago offended you,” he said.