Outrage over white woman’s Mantashe and Hani comment on Twitter

Social media users are outraged over a comment made by a white woman on Twitter who insinuated she wished mineral resources and energy minister Gwede Mantashe could be assassinated like the late leader of the South African Communist Party, Chris Hani. 

The Sunday Times shared a link to their story about Mantashe snubbing an official government engagement with President Cyril Ramaphosa and instead prioritising attending a Cosatu event. 

Commenting on the story on Twitter, Nicole Barlow said: “We missed an opportunity to do a Chris Hani on him.”

Hani was assassinated in 1993 at his home in Boksburg. 

Barlow has since taken down the tweet. 

Many people are calling for the South African Human Rights Commission and police to take action over her comment. They said it was distasteful for a person to wish for the assassination of a senior politician like Mantashe. 

In a subsequent tweet Barlow agreed her comment was distasteful and said she was wrong. 

“I agree it is grossly hypocritical to criticise [EFF leader] Julius Malema for publicly inciting violence and promoting the killing of white farmers (Boers) only for me to turn around and do it as well.

“One should never fall into the trap of engaging with one's enemy through cheap point scoring and insults.

“I have spent 20 years fighting the ANC and the devastating impact their corruption has had on our environment, and for a split second I allowed my jaded perspective of them to cloud my judgement, and that was wrong.”

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