It appears the South African Sports Minister, Fikile Mbalula, has managed to spark a fierce Twitter debate between his country an Kenya, following some derogatory comments he made during a media briefing in Johannesburg yesterday.
According to SA media outlet Mail & Guardian, Mbalula was fielding questions from the press when someone from the audience asked about ethnic imbalance in SA national teams, particularly skewed in favour of white athletes. In response, Mbalula said:
You can’t transform sports without targets. But at the same time, South Africa wouldn’t be like Kenya and send athletes to the Olympics to “drown in the pool”
Consequently some angry Kenyans have since taken to Twitter to voice their disgust using the hashtag #SomeonetellSouthAfrica.
#someonetellSouthAfrica This is what we do to people in athletics pic.twitter.com/JT2dacSGkn
— Tim Toro (@Bungei) April 29, 2014
The south African government interpreting our tweets. #someonetellsouthafrica pic.twitter.com/TLcjsm7Qm4
— Bernard Nandwa (@nandwabee) April 30, 2014
https://twitter.com/kev_twts/status/461434279541878784
South African Twitter has responded with a #SomeonTellKenya hashtag. However their tweets appear to be largely focused at making peace, rather than retaliation. Even the SA Sports Minister himself – or someone pretending to be him on Twitter – chipped in. However, his tweets were more reconciliatory than they were apologetic.
https://twitter.com/MbalulaFikile/status/461196365830557696
https://twitter.com/MbalulaFikile/status/461198844496478208
#SomeoneTellKenya I'm glad the majority of folks who'd engage on xenophobic attacks aren't on Twitter, this can unnecessarily get ugly.
— Duke of Slayfontein 🔥 (@LordAzania) April 30, 2014
But some South Africans seem oblivious to these peacemaking attempts
https://twitter.com/TheBlackEffron/status/461471400726118400
Mbalula is not the first high profile South African whose publicly derogatory statements, about other African countries, has stirred up intensified debates on Twitter. Last October President Zuma notoriosly said about the implementation of e-tolling systems in the country’s capital – “We can’t think like Africans because we are in Johannesburg and not some national road in Malawi.”
Photo credit: Mail Guardian
