Gayton McKenzie has defended Springbok Andre Esterhuizen amid renewed scrutiny of an alleged racial slur, saying the rugby player should not be judged for the rest of his life over an incident dating back to when he was 18.
The Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture said people could change and called for both accountability and forgiveness in a video posted on his Facebook account.
“I am a product of second chances. People change, people make mistakes. I’m a living example,” McKenzie said.
“I hope that Andre Esterhuizen has apologised to the victim. I hope that he has seen the error of his ways. I’ve done worse things than Andre Esterhuizen and I’ve been forgiven.”
The incident happened in 2012, when Esterhuizen was a Matric learner at Klerksdorp High School. He was accused of directing the words “fking k” at Thabo Molete, coach of Potchefstroom Gymnasium, during an argument at a rugby match.
Esterhuizen was found guilty of misconduct and initially received a one-year ban. That sanction was later reduced to a six-month suspension on condition that he completed a life skills course. He consequently missed Craven Week.
McKenzie said he believed Esterhuizen had changed and should not be permanently defined by the incident.
“Andre was a young boy, and he has changed. I don’t believe people should be punished for the rest of their lives. He has made a mistake,” he said.
“We can use him to show the public that racism is not the way. I don’t believe he is a racist. I’ve spoken to one or two guys who work with him, and they have good things to say about him.”
SARU asked to explain handling of allegations
Last month, SA Rugby (SARU) declined to answer questions about the allegation during a press conference involving Esterhuizen, who had captained the Springboks in their Test against the Wallabies.
McKenzie said SARU had failed to explain its position and revealed that he would meet the organisation this week to receive a full report.
“SARU must understand that people are hurt; they have not explained the issue. They have failed in explaining the rationale behind it,” he said.
McKenzie has previously faced criticism over screenshots of old posts from his X account, formerly known as Twitter, which surfaced last year.
The Patriotic Alliance leader defended some of the posts and apologised for others, describing them as “insensitive and stupid”. However, he claimed that several posts containing the K-word had been “AI-generated”.
“I never thought people would accuse me of racism,” he said during a Facebook Live broadcast.
“In my entire life, I’ve never called anybody the K-word. We are the victims. This is a political campaign driven by the EFF, together with some influencers on X. Let them show me where I used the K-word referring to someone. They can’t.”
Parliament spokesperson Moloto Mothapo later said an ethics committee could not investigate McKenzie’s posts from 2013-2017 because he was not an MP at the time. The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), however, said it would open an investigation against the minister.
