The embattled Jacaranda FM breakfast show DJ Tumi Morake's co-host, Martin Bester, has come out in support of his colleague.
Speaking to Rapport newspaper, Bester likened the furore around Morake to a game of "telefoontjie" (a children's game where an initial message is repeatedly whispered to another child until it becomes completely distorted). Bester said this "broken message" had caused a lot of anger in Morake's case.
The comedian and actress has been deluged with hate mail following her analogies about the effects of apartheid on her and Bester's Jacaranda FM breakfast show.
In addition, trade union Solidarity launched an online campaign against Morake and sent a memorandum of demands to her employer.
Bester said he wished people would listen and try to understand what Morake wanted to say before overreacting.
"I'm not even going to try to explain. Tumi has already explained what she meant by her bicycle analogy many times," Bester told the paper.
Bester said he and Morake did not want to appear arrogant about the issue. "If there are new themes that stem from this debate, we are more than willing to talk about it. That was the point of the discussion in the first place: that people share their opinions and learn from one another.
"Tumi is an open book. She is interested in life and people."
Bester said they would continue with the radio show and that there were no plans to fire Morake.
"We understand that people are angry. But I think it is wrong to be unreasonably angry just because you are looking for a punching bag," Bester said.