MK Party Condemns Gayton McKenzie’s Racist Tweets, Calls for an Investigation Into His Criminal Ties

• The uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party has called for an investigation into Gayton McKenzie's alleged criminal ties
• The party is unhappy with the racist comments made by the Patriotic Alliance leader over a decade ago
• The MK Party has noted that the minister's behaviour is not new to members of the Government of National Unity

Briefly News journalist Byron Pillay has dedicated a decade to reporting on the South African political landscape, crime, and social issues. He spent 10 years working for the Northern Natal Courier before transitioning to online journalism.

GAUTENG – The uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party has condemned remarks made by Gayton McKenzie, describing them as abhorrent and racially-charged.

The Patriotic Alliance leader is in hot water after tweets he made over a decade ago, in which he used the K-word, have since resurfaced. While the Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture has since apologised, though many have rejected it, the MK Party wants him to be removed from office instead.

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What did the party say?

In a strongly worded statement posted to X on 11 August 2025, the party said that McKenzie’s long-standing record of hostility towards black South Africans was not only offensive but was fundamentally incompatible with the office he held.

“McKenzie, whose views reflect blatant contempt for black people, our culture and our identity, has ironically been entrusted with the Ministry of Sports, Arts and Culture: a national embarrassment.

“His failure to apologise or even acknowledge the harm caused by his rhetoric is a clear indication of his disregard for the responsibilities of public office and the dignity of the people he is meant to serve,” the party noted.

The party also stated that the minister’s behaviour followed a pattern among other figures within the Government of National Unity (GNU). It used the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) Dean Macpherson as an example, for saying there would be no land expropriation under his watch and also former DA Member of Parliament (MP) Renaldo Gouws, who also repeatedly used the K-word.

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MK Party wants McKenzie’s criminal ties investigated

The party has also called for an investigation into McKenzie’s ties to the criminal underworld.

It noted his association with the criminally accused Jermaine Prim, whose parents said that the Patriotic Alliance was founded within the confines of the Johannesburg Correctional Centre, which is also known as Sun City Prison.

The parents claimed that the party emerged from a coalition built on criminal loyalty, resulting in a political movement with ties to the criminal underworld.

The party also noted that McKenzie publicly stated that he had a hand in the transfer of Prim to a maximum-security prison, saying that this raised more questions as to what authority he had to do this.

“We therefore call on the Minister of Correctional Services to investigate these allegations as well as Mr McKenzie’s relation and involvement with figures of the criminal world,” the statement continued.

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How the Gayton McKenzie drama has unfolded

• The minister faced resignation calls following the uproar over his racist tweets.
• McKenzie apologised for the tweets, but South Africans were not having it.
• Patriotic Alliance (PA) deputy president Kenny Kunene defended McKenzie.
• Ntsiki Mazwai joined fellow South Africans in calling for McKenzie to be fired.
• Sizwe Dhlomo weighed in on allegations that McKenzie was deleting old X posts.

McKenzie issues defiant statement after calls for his removal

Briefly News reported that the Patriotic Alliance leader responded to calls for his removal as a minister.

McKenzie issued a defiant statement when he said that people don’t know what’s coming if he’s removed.

South Africans were unsure how to interpret the statement, with some taking it as a threat.

Source: Briefly News