Deputy Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, Mmapaseka Steve Letsike, has slammed podcaster MacG.
On Friday, 2 May, the department issued a statement reprimanding him for his comments regarding media personality Minnie Dlamini made on his podcast.
MacG, whose real name is MacGyver Mukwevho, made derogatory comments about Minnie in April.
Letsike said she considered MacG’s utterances to constitute online gender-based violence.
“As the Ministry in the Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, we welcome the immediate and overwhelmingly condemnatory response by some followers of the Podcast and Chill and some South Africans to Mr Mukwevho’s vitriol.
“There is no room in our democratic Republic for any misogynistic and demeaning utterances that perpetuate patriarchal iterations of gender relations.”
“We are encouraged that within the ranks of South African society, we have persons who are sober in mind to call out abhorrent tendencies that are a distraction from achieving gender equality,” she said.
The department went to summon the podcaster to the Portfolio Committee.
“Mr Mukwevho’s utterances will be referred to Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities to summon him to appear before the committee and account in line with Section 56 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa.
“The referral will call on the Portfolio Committee to exercise Parliament’s powers as per Chapter 5 of the Powers, Privileges and Immunities of Parliaments and Provincial Legislatures (Act 4 of 2004).”
“Should Mr Mukwevho fail without sufficient cause to appear before the committee, processes to implement Section 17 (1)(c)(ii) of the Act must be engaged, and Mr Mukwevho may be ‘liable to a fine or imprisonment for a period not exceeding 12 months or to both the fine and imprisonment’,” read the statement.
Letsike said the plan is to escalate the matter to the Human Rights Commission, Gender Equality Commission, and Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa.
The department urges Parliament to summon MacG to explain while exploring legal action, including possible crimen injuria charges.
“This is not a joke or harmless banter. It’s a serious example of gender-based abuse, and we must treat it as such.
“We must all hold content creators accountable. Broadcasters and platforms must act. The fight for women’s dignity in South Africa continues – and we will not let this slide,” she said.
