Comments by a white South African woman calling black people “monkeys” have sparked widespread outrage.
On Facebook, Penny Sparrow used the word to describe New Year’s revellers on Durban’s beach because of the mess she said they made.
She was condemned by many on social media and the hashtag #RacistsMustFall was trending on Twitter.
The South African Human Rights Commission is now investigating the comments, the News24 website reports.
Ms Sparrow took down the original post and replaced it with an apology saying that “everyone makes mistakes”.
She tried to clarify her remarks in an interview with News24 saying: “I made the mistake of comparing them [black people] with monkeys. Monkeys are cute and they’re naughty, but they [black people] don’t see it that way, but I do because I love animals.”