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- A Free State mayor was caught on camera calling people by the k-word.
- A video of Mayor Motloheloa Mokatsane's address has been making the rounds on social media.
- The mayor has apologised for what he said during the address.
The mayor of Moqhaka municipality in the Free State, Motloheloa Mokatsane, was caught on camera calling residents the k-word.
In the 17-second video making the rounds on social media, Mokatsane can be seen addressing a crowd of residents who gathered outside the Viljoenskroon Magistrate's Court on Wednesday.
In the video, he talks about violence and then says "crime is what we were born to do as k*****s."
However, some of the residents can clearly be seen shaking their heads in disapproval at his choice of words, while some murmurs can also be heard in the background.
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After realising how unhappy the residents are at being called the k-word, Mokatsana then says: "OK, let me put it in a better way, we as black people are violent and suffering violence everyday. That is why I say crime is meted to us everyday."
Contacted about the matter and the use of the k-word, Moqhaka municipality spokesperson Dika Kheswa told News24 that the mayor was not attacking any racial group, and was using a "figure of speech" during his address.
He said:
According to Kheswa, the mayor had been addressing residents on a gender-based violence matter when he used the k-word.
"The mayor was trying to say, most of the time you would find there is always violence, but the user who posted the clip decided to cut the other parts. As the mayor was highlighting certain things related to GBV, he used the figure of speech (we as k-words)," Kheswa said.
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