President Jacob Zuma's son Edward has been ordered to apologise for a rant, in which he called Pravin Gordhan and Derek Hanekom sellouts who were protecting white monopoly capital, Business Day reported on Monday.
Last week, Zuma wrote an open letter after Gordhan addressed a lecture at the University of Johannesburg on state capture. Zuma called Gordhan a stooge of white monopoly capital, and called Hanekom "vile".
This weekend, the South African Human Rights Commission confirmed it was investigating Zuma's remarks. A spokesperson, Gail Smith, told Business Day that the commission would communicate with Zuma this week on what action to take.
But Zuma hit back, calling the commission a "vile dog unleashed to maul the black majority, to manage them, to sanitise their history and to keep them in check when expressing their history and articulating their black pain."
The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal reportedly told Zuma to retract his rant.
"We have given him five days to do this. He has failed to separate and contextualise criticism against the president. He has personalised it and used racial connotations in dealing with comrade Pravin and comrade Hanekom," spokesperson Mdumiseni Ntuli told Business Day, adding that Zuma would be called before a disciplinary hearing if he ignored the ANC.
National ANC spokesperson Zizi Kodwa had equally harsh words for Zuma. He told Eyewitness News on Sunday: "Edward Zuma cannot assume him to be a super member of the ANC, he must respect the protocols of the organisation and he's not the spokesperson for the province or a branch. His branch in KwaZulu-Natal must deal with that and we condemn it."
But Zuma reportedly said he would not apologise. According to EWN, Zuma said: "What is written in my letter, I stand by every sentence and word. And I mean it, I am not apologetic about it."