Hypocrisy Unmasked: McKenzie and the K-word
Opinion
Minister Gayton McKenzie, a man who does not even identify as a Black person but proudly identifies as Coloured, has absolutely no business invoking this word in any situation, especially when it serves his personal or political agendas.
Image: BackpagePix
WHEN I first heard that PA leader and Sports, Arts, and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie had repeatedly used the K-word on social media, South Africa’s most vile and violent racial slur, I wasn’t shocked. Instead, I was enraged!
Not because I expected any better from him, but because once again, black pain has been put up for public debate, and those responsible are allowed to shrug it off with a smirk and a flimsy excuse.
In a country still bleeding from the open wounds of apartheid’s legacy, it should go without saying: the K-word is not a teaching tool, a punchline, or a thought experiment. It is a weapon. A weapon that has been used to subjugate, dehumanise, and discredit Black people — sometimes even including Coloured people — in ways that continue to haunt us today.
It is extremely shameful and idiotic of McKenzie … a man who does not even identify as a Black person but proudly identifies as Coloured has absolutely no business invoking this word in any situation, especially when it serves his personal or political agendas.
McKenzie’s disgraceful files resurfaced after his overblown response to a viral clip of the Open Chats Podcast hosts, who made derogatory comments about the Coloured community. While the hosts issued an apology, McKenzie launched a crusade against them — filing criminal charges, ensuring the podcast’s removal from MultiChoice (DSTV), and lodging complaints with various ethical bodies across the nation.
The lesson McKenzie needs to learn is that context does not excuse harm. His weak defence of his use of the K-word was that he employed it to “highlight racism”. But let me ask this: How do we, as Black people, feel when we hear these words come from someone who is not only in a significant position of power, but also holds a platform that amplifies the ignorance and hateful rhetoric of our past, undermining the legacies and hard-won rights of Black South Africans everywhere?
Let me state this plainly: McKenzie is not only unfit for leadership; he represents a clear and present danger, unbridled racism and bigotry. His attempt to justify using the K-word as a “lesson” isn’t just careless; it reflects a deeper, systemic problem: the exploitation of power and a complete disregard for the ongoing trauma still faced by Black South Africans today.
It is a slap in the face to every South African who fought and died to ensure a South Africa where such divisive slurs have no place.
Never forget, McKenzie is the same hypocrite who fiercely defended a white supremacist blogger who openly called for the killing of Black South Africans. Where was the “lesson” then? Where was the so-called accountability?
The double standard is impossible to ignore. McKenzie, a man with a history of dehumanising Black people online, cannot be the moral authority in this matter. When it comes to racial harm, accountability must be consistent. Yet here we are, watching as McKenzie continues to dismantle the very livelihood and reputation of these youths, while drawing a blind eye to the much deeper problem he represents.
McKenzie’s defence of using racial slurs only highlights his ignorance of the role of language in oppressing and subjugating Black South Africans. Clearly, the enduring legacies of June 16, 1976, and the significance of our Constitution on Freedom Day have completely gone over his head!
Furthermore, in a country where the freedom of speech has been butchered by racists and bigots seeking to divide us, it is critical that we insist that our leaders oppose division, rather than contribute to it. Marginalised voices are more often silenced when we speak out. McKenzie, however, uses his power to justify his abhorrent, intolerant behaviour.
The K-word is not just a slur; it is a weapon of mass oppression. Historically, it has been used to humiliate, degrade, and dehumanise us. It is a stark reminder of the so-called “inferior” status imposed on us — a weapon of segregation and inequality that perpetuates the horrors of apartheid into the present. To use this word — or any word associated with centuries of brutality and injustice — so carelessly is not just reckless, it is malicious.
McKenzie’s repeated use of this word, under the guise of “context”, intentionally dismisses the history and pain attached to it. He clearly has no understanding of the lasting emotional and psychological toll it takes on our people, particularly the millions of those still fighting to reclaim a semblance of dignity in a society that continues to marginalise and ostracise Black people.
The company McKenzie keeps is as troubling as his actions. His political ally, Kenny Kunene, is infamous for eating sushi off naked women and making disturbing, misogynistic comments, including suggesting abominable things about intoxicated women.
These are not the types of individuals who should shape our future. Together, they aim to influence South Africa’s creative, sporting, and artistic sectors, but what are they offering? A culture of impunity, a disregard for accountability and a complete dismissal of the values enshrined in our Constitution is what they offer.
As a Black South African woman, it is disheartening and exhausting to still — over three decades after democracy — be explaining why our pain matters, why our dignity is non-negotiable, and why our leaders must be held accountable — not only for their present and past actions — but for their warped ideologies, which continue to undermine the very essence of what South Africans fought for.
It is a relentless cycle of watching those in power perpetuate systems of inequality and division, while the rest of us are left to pick up the pieces of a society that should have healed by now. Our voices, our struggles, and our lives must no longer be reduced to political pawns or forgotten in the pursuit of power.
We cannot afford to let men such as McKenzie represent us. To do so would dishonour those who fought against the very systems McKenzie and his ilk perpetuate. The government, the Human Rights Commission, and all ethical bodies in this country must hold him accountable — and keep the same energy and ferocity they had when so swiftly prosecuting a group of black youths (on a much smaller platform) for perpetuating stereotypes.
Letting a government minister slide in instances like this means we risk dishonouring the memory of those who died fighting against the very systems McKenzie continues to perpetuate. In fact, it shows other bigoted leaders that blatant racism can go unpunished, particularly in leadership.
Let us not allow history to repeat itself through complacency. South Africa deserves leaders who embody the values of our Constitution, who prioritise unity, uphold accountability, and ensure that the wounds of our past are never used as tools of division in our future.
* Tswelopele Makoe is a gender and social justice activist and editor at Global South Media Network. She is a researcher, columnist, and an Andrew W Mellon scholar at the Desmond Tutu Centre for Religion and Social Justice, UWC. The views expressed are her own.
** The views expressed here do not reflect those of the Sunday Independent, IOL, or Independent Media.