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The EFF’s Statement Calling for the Immediate Removal of Gayton McKenzie as Minister of Sports, Arts, and Culture for his History of Hateful, Racist Remarks
-It is also the height of hypocrisy for McKenzie to demand accountability from others when he himself harbours the same hateful attitudes. Recently, when podcasters on “Open Chats” made offensive remarks about Coloured people — calling them “incestuous” and “crazy” — McKenzie expressed outrage, opened a case against them, and demanded a public apology. While he was right to be offended by prejudice directed at his community, this double standard strips him of any moral or ethical standing to lead on issues of non-racialism and social cohesion.
Minister Gayton Mackenzie, I am challenging you to a public debate on the meaning of racism in South Africa.
You have made bold statements in public. Now I am giving you the opportunity to defend them in public. This is your chance to show South Africans that you stand by your words when faced with facts and history, not just soundbites.
Your definition of racism is wrong and dangerous. Racism is not just personal hatred. It is a system of power built on white supremacy, which shaped our economy, our land ownership, and our political institutions to exclude and dominate all Black people,African, Coloured, and Indian.
Minister, what those kids said was wrong on their podcast open chat, but it was not racism. You misdiagnosed it, misled the public, and used a serious allegation carelessly. Unless you are saying Coloured people are not Black in South Africa, you owe the country an apology. Our history is clear. Under apartheid, African, Coloured, and Indian people were all classified as non-white and subjected to systemic oppression by a white supremacist state. We were all part of the same oppressed majority then, and that truth still stands today.
The Minister must understand the difference between racism and when one Black group insults another. That may be ethnic prejudice, tribalism, internalised colonial attitudes, or ignorance, but it is not racism.
Coloured people are Black people, dispossessed and marginalised under white supremacy. To deny this is to erase their struggle, their blood, and their history. To suggest they are closer to white proximity is dangerous. It revives apartheid thinking, fuels mistrust, and divides the oppressed, instead of uniting us against the real enemy, the lingering economic and social power of white supremacy.
This debate will not be about political sides. It will be about educating South Africans with the truth, dismantling the lies that keep us divided, and uniting the oppressed majority to confront the real structures of inequality.
Minister, if you believe in the words you speak, you will not shy away from this challenge. If you refuse to debate me, you will be telling the country that your statements cannot survive open scrutiny from an ordinary citizen armed only with the truth. You hold high office, yet I am meeting you as a citizen. If you run from this debate, you will show South Africans that you are willing to speak at them, but not with them.
I am ready to have this conversation in front of the whole country. The only question is, are you ready to face me?
I, Nyiko Floyd Shivambu, hereby fully accept the decision by the uMKhonto weSizwe Party (MK Party) to terminate my membership of the organisation. This acceptance is unequivocal and final. I will not appeal the decision, as I respect the processes and structures of the organisation that I once served as National Organiser and Secretary General. Mayibuye iAfrika!
🚫 Racism and the dehumanisation of any person have no place in South Africa!
We have reported Minister Gayton McKenzie to the South African Human Rights Commission for repeatedly using hateful Apartheid-era slurs to degrade and dehumanise black South Africans.