Comedian and actress Tumi Morake and her family have been deluged with hate mail following her analogies about the effects of apartheid on her Jacaranda FM breakfast show.
Reflecting on South Africa's transition from apartheid to democracy, Morake stated that "apartheid was about the oppression of black people" on her Tuesday show.
"You cannot claim to love a country if you do not love the people in it," she continued.
She said all race groups were just expected to unite after the demise of apartheid without any form of retribution.
"You broke down a people on skin colour before you build them up. You are now saying they must just share with everybody and be friends with everybody," Morake said on the show.
She continued: "It's like a child whose bicycle was taken forcefully away from him and then you say to the bully, 'no, no, no, share the bike together, don't be like that.'"
Threats made against her
Following the show, AfriForum, Solidarity and listeners took to social media and labelled her comments racist.
She has received hate mail on social media and is taking the threats seriously, resorting to asking friends to escort her to work, a source at the station told HuffPost SA on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, Morake responded: "We are never going to get past [the issue] if everybody is up in arms defending themselves and fighting, instead of saying, 'you know, I disagree with you on that part', not throw names at me, not threaten me and not throw racist hate at me in response to something I said from an honest place. I'm done.
"I don't take it back ... I'm explaining an anger, I'm explaining what is so serious about apartheid and why even today we talk about race."
She said it was unfair for people to call her racist because she did not say white people should be punished.
"I don't apologise, I am not racist ... I come from a history that labelled me, I will not be labelled now in my freedom."
The comedian noted that race was an important topic and that South Africa "belongs to all South Africans and we should all have a right to talk about these things".
Some of the comments on social media.
Morake took to social media to show some of the hate mail she received since she started working at Jacaranda FM.
Pontential complaint
AfriForum and Solidarity are both considering laying a complaint against the comedian with the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa (BCCSA).
Solidarity research institute head Connie Mulder said the organisation felt her comments were racist because "she used a very bad analogy".
"The bully in apartheid is generally considered by the ANC and [EFF leader] Julius [Malema] as white people," he said.
The trade union has written a letter to Jacaranda FM asking it to release the full one hour clip so it can understand why Morake made the comments.
"We want to open dialogue with Tumi and Jacaranda about such matters".
AfriForum's deputy CEO Ernst Roets said it respected Morake's freedom of speech, however she should acknowledge certain boundaries.