‘Obama of Soweto’ takes questions on Twitter

He takes his coffee black and hasn’t touched sugar since September. Like Julius Malema‚ he took woodwork at high school. And winning the lotto wouldn’t tempt him to leave poilitcs.

These were some of the insights gained into newly elected Democratic Alliance head Mmusi Maimane during his Twitter Town Hall on Wednesday.

Maimane took to the site to field questions and "give South Africans an opportunity get to know more about the DA leader and his vision for South Africa".

Although his Twitter Town Hall was only scheduled to start at 12.30 on Wednesday‚ the #AskMmusi social media campaign was trending most of the morning.

Detractors had predicted that Maimane was in for a hiding from "Black Twitter"‚ a virtual community on the social network interested in black discourse on socio-political issues.

?@Msrell0w  tweeted: "This shall not end well #AskMmusi....Black twitter will have a field day"‚ while @LizQueen–Bee forecast: "It’s #AskMmusi today…Black Twitter ain’t never had no chill. Today is going something for the books".

@charmaineDsmurf ‚ however‚ said that while "Tweeps (are) worried about how Black Twitter will react" she thought "White Twitter will shock us even more".

The first question he answered after the 12.30 start came from OfentseZA‚ who asked: "My man‚ Can you speak Sesotho‚ Sepedi or Setswana #AskMmusi"?

Maimane replied: "Yebo and I speak 6 other languages. What do you speak Morena?"

On his personal opinion on homosexuality‚ Maimane told @kraaibos: "I support the rights of gay people as espoused in the constitution."

When @MsShaneSK retweeted an image of him looking like he was struggling with a laptop and the words "Weeeh you look like a slow typer. This will never work"‚ Maimane replied: "I did woodwork instead of typing in High School. Eish Ho tla loka."

(Economic Freedom Fighters leader Malema infamously got a G for woodwork in matric.)

The DA supremo was also asked about his new nickname – "Are you really the ‘Obama of Soweto’?" He sidestepped it deftly with a brief reply: "Ask @camanpour." The moniker was coined during an interview with CNN’s Christine Amanpour.

Some of the early questions were more serious in tone.

@msb–ingram touched on the recent xenophobic violence by asking: "Wondering what your thoughts are a) the expat violence and b) South Africa’s role in bettering the region?"

Maimane replied: "1) We’re all African brothers/sisters &  should treat one another as such 2) Increase trade and halt quiet diplomacy."

Maimane also used the platform to posts links to videos and other resources "that will give insight into delivery of DA governments in townships".

If he served in "cabinet‚ excluding presidency‚ which portfolio would you want to and why?" he was asked.

"Finance so that we can fix the economy to create more jobs as a first priority‚" he answered.

Twitter user @ladyj–oy  tackled the scandal around remarks made by veteran journalist Allister Sparks at the weekend’s elective congress that saw Maimane elected. "Please could you break down‚ in your own words‚ what Alister Spark meant about Verwoed being smart at the DA ntoz?" she asked.

Maimane said: "i disagreed with him and he has already apologised. Verwoed’s policies are deplorable and evil."

@Mduntanzi asked Maimane pointedly: "Why do you hate Jacob Zuma?" The DA leader said he didn’t. "Holding the President accountable does not equate to hating him‚" he explained.

One question that may have been beyond Maimane’s ability to answer came from an almost embarrassed ?@Murendi‚ who tweeted early on Wednesday: "I know I’m really early Mmusi...but this has really been bugging me for a while...what exactly does Pearl Thusi do?"

By the time of publication‚ Maimane had not addressed the issue of what the media presenter and actress actually does.