Capetonian Matthew Theunissen broke his silence on Tuesday to apologise for his racist rant against the government on Facebook‚ saying it was “the biggest mistake I’ve made in my life“.

The 26-year-old masters graduate from Stellenbosch University spoke to CapeTalk afternoon radio host John Maytham. “I have no excuse at all. I just wanted to apologise. I am truly sorry for using hurtful language‚” he said.

His post went viral just days after Rhodes Must Fall activist Ntokozo Qwabe caused an outcry with a Facebook post about making a white waitress cry in Cape Town.

Theunissen lashed out at Sports and Recreation Minister Fikile Mbalula for imposing a ban on SA Rugby‚ Cricket South Africa and Athletics SA hosting international tournaments due to their lack of transformation.

“So no more sporting events for South Africa … I’ve never been more proud than to say our government are a bunch of K*****S … yes‚ I said it so go and f*** yourselves you black f***ing c***s‚” read the post on his Facebook page‚ which he subsequently deleted.

Theunissen said he made the post in anger. “I didn’t intend to say those words and I will regret it for the rest of my life‚” he said.

Asked what was going through his head at the time‚ he replied: “Sport is a massive passion of mine and I’ve also been looking for a job for the last year. With the current politics in the country I haven’t been able to find employment. But besides that the main thing that made me say those words‚ which I regret so dearly‚ is the fact that we aren’t allowed to hold international sporting events‚ a very big passion of mine.

“I was in an extremely‚ extremely bad mood and bad place and I immediately reacted by deleting the post‚” he said.

He insisted that he was not a racist. “I have plenty of friends of colour‚” he said. His apology was met with skepticism by listeners who continued to vent their anger against him on Twitter.

Stellenbosch University was at pains to point out on Tuesday that he was no longer associated with the institution. “He is not currently enrolled or employed at SU …. SU promotes human dignity through a culture of respect for self and others‚” the university said on Twitter.

Theunissen said that he would contact the South African Human Rights Commission‚ which has been asked to investigate him for hate speech. “There is no running away from it‚” he said.

And in another race-related drama on Tuesday‚ EFF MP‚ Nazir Paulsen referred to DA MP‚ Yusuf Cassim as a “K****” during the budget vote on the Department of International Relations and Cooperation in Parliament.

“This disgusting racist behaviour has no place in our constitutional democracy or in our democratic parliament‚ and I therefore demand that EFF leader‚ Julius Malema‚ initiate disciplinary action and‚ pending the outcome‚ suspend Paulsen immediately‚” said DA chief whip John Steenhuisen.