Johannesburg – Politics, and politicians in South Africa never fail to provide a dull moment for citizens.
The latest saga that has South Africans munching on popcorn, watching the drama unfold, is the war between South Africa’s presidential communications team and the Minister of Tourism Lindiwe Sisulu
The minister and the presidency have been communicating through a battle of press releases, following Sisulu’s meeting with President Cyril Ramaphosa that took place on Thursday.
The presidency released a statement on Thursday evening, saying that Sisulu apologised for her controversial column published on a news website two weeks ago, where she took aim at the judiciary system in the country.
Sisulu came out guns blazing with a press statement of her own, where she claimed that she did not apologise for her words.
The presidency then reaffirmed the first statement that they released and said they stand by it.
On Friday, the minister said that the president’s media team was ‘deliberately mischievous’ in their communications.
The war of words between the two has played out in full view of the South African public and citizens took to social media to share their thoughts and opinions on the matter.
Take a look at some of them below:
https://twitter.com/Zoe_SZi/status/1484251323805622276?s=20
The day they appointed this as a ministry in presidency I knew that it's over for Ramaphosa 😂🤣 pic.twitter.com/gHUdSpSTxV
— SiyaH Mdluli 🇿🇦🇷🇺 (@SihleMahamba) January 20, 2022
Our nation now faces the prospect of a Presidency issuing an apology for an apology they apologised for on behalf of a Minister who didn’t apologise. 🤷♂️🇿🇦🤡#LindiweSisulu #Presidency
— Simon Grindrod (@SimonPGrindrod) January 20, 2022
The Presidency has successfully managed to resuscitate an issue that would have otherwise suffocated under the weight of its own absurdity.
— pramakoa (@pramakoa) January 21, 2022
https://twitter.com/AdrianG36939310/status/1484444935965261826?s=20
https://twitter.com/RealEvidence3/status/1484424492235505667?s=20
Admonish who? Is tourism Minister Lindiwe Sisulu playing chicken with the President? Her office says she ain’t sorry and the Presidency misrepresented her – she neither apologized nor retracted her article. What now? Axe her? Surely Ramaphosa now has no choice? #702Breakfast
— Bongani Bingwa IG/TikTok: Bonglez (@bonglez) January 21, 2022
Cyril's unmatched paranoia emanates from the mega crimes he's recently confessed about. This guy knows for sure if he loses ANC presidency he's moving straight from presidency to prison.The more desperate he gets, the more tyrannical&despotic his administration will be.Buckle up!
— Jackie Shandu (@1OusmaneSembene) January 21, 2022
Watching the war of statements between the presidency and Lindiwe Sisulu is like watching two blind people having an intractable argument over what the colour blue looks like for animals.
— Gareth van Onselen (@GvanOnselen) January 21, 2022
https://twitter.com/Zoe_SZi/status/1484417350103359489?s=20
I feel sorry for those who trusted the Presidency with their lives and went on to get vaccinated this #LindiweSisulu has exposed how they are liars pic.twitter.com/y3Jj4kMYyw
— BongweD. (@bongwe_ncube) January 21, 2022
The Presidency has embarrassed Lindiwe by releasing her real apology instead of the sanitized version she wanted. She is very upset.
— ERROL💥💥💥💥💥💥💥 (@errolbsk) January 21, 2022
Lindiwe desperately wants to be fired. The Presidency statement quotes her verbatim in that meeting. I doubt that this is manufactured. This means that Lindiwe is denying her own apology , thinking she'd be fired.
— ERROL💥💥💥💥💥💥💥 (@errolbsk) January 21, 2022
Last week, the Acting Deputy Chief Justice of South Africa, Raymond Zonod, held a press briefing where he lambasted the minister for her column.
“This is most regrettable because it does not come from a young and inexperienced person. There are no facts that are put up by Sisulu and analysis it is just accusations and insults to the judiciary,” Zondo further said.
Zondo said he would have expected Sisulu to have facts about her allegations and opinions for everyone to see.
“It should not be acceptable for a member of parliament to wake up one morning without any facts to write an article to insult the African judges and the Judiciary as a whole,” he said.
Also read: Minister Lindiwe Sisulu slams President Ramaphosa’s media team
Sisulu distances herself from apology statement by presidency
Minister Sisulu apologises for her attack on judiciary
Sisulu takes page out of Zuma’s playbook as she takes on Cyril
Minister Lindiwe Sisulu reacts to Zondo’s comments amid article
Acting Chief Justice Zondo slams Minister Lindiwe Sisulu’s comments
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