Roman Cabanac says he is happy with his appointment
NEWS
A controversial podcaster and conservative social media activist, Roman Cabanac, has been appointed as the chief of staff in the office of the minister of agriculture, John Steenhuisen.
His appointment follows shortly after the uproar in which the DA found itself with the appointment of another controversial YouTuber and podcaster, Renaldo Gouws, as a Member of Parliament.
Gouws is still under investigation by the DA after video postings of him using racist language came to light. Although the DA announced that Gouws had been suspended from party activities, he is still a Member of Parliament.
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Cabanac founded the podcast Morning Shot and attempted to enter politics in 2019 as a founding member of the Capitalist Party of SA, whose logo was a purple cow. The Purple Cow, as the party was widely known, did not succeed in the 2019 general election.
Cabanac confirmed to City Press’ sister publication, Rapport, that Steenhuisen personally approached him to manage his office at the department of agriculture.
He said:
I am very comfortable with the appointment because fortunately, there are not many woke people at the department of agriculture as we are here to work. I am, therefore, not bothered if the woke crowd is critical of my appointment.
According to Cabanac, his previous experience with large teams in the private sector and the non-profit sector makes him a suitable candidate for the position.
He says he did not have a personal relationship with Steenhuisen before his appointment.
Cabanac says:
We did interviews together (on Morning Shot), and I worked with Helen Zille when I did podcasts for her.
Cabanac has been involved in many controversies on X in the past. He gained particular notoriety for controversial political statements.
As a co-host of The Renegade Report, he upset several Jewish people after interviewing “Nazi sympathisers”.
According to The SA Jewish Report, a writer and journalist from Johannesburg, Nechama Brodie, objected in 2019 to Cabanac’s online conversations with “a bunch of alternative right-wing thinkers,” one of whom had Nazi beliefs.
Brodie argued that Cabanac “allowed racist and anti-Semitic remarks without even questioning or debating them.”
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Cabanac’s defence was that he participated in a debate and did not sympathize with the views of other panel members.
In February, in a conversation with Gareth Cliff on his web radio station CliffCentral, he expressed his views on local politicians and the political landscape in South Africa.
He told Cliff:
All political parties are just moronic, we no longer have a state. It doesn’t matter who takes over. John Steenhuisen and Helen Zille can run this country as a theocracy for 10 years, it doesn’t matter. There is no army, there are no borders, there is no police. What are they going to do? Fix a few potholes?
Steenhuisen did not respond to inquiries about Cabanac’s appointment.
