The Johannesburg region of the African National Congress has gotten its knickers in a knot after an image of a woman wearing a skimpy swimsuit in ANC colours was uploaded on its Twitter account.
The ‘seductive babe’ image was uploaded with a caption reading ‘What do you make of this swimsuit’ under the #RegistrationWeek #VoteANC hashtags.
In response to the outrage it was greeted with on social media‚ a shame-faced ANC removed it and posted these messages: “Comrades‚ we apologise for the tweet we posted earlier it was in appropriate..” (sic).
“Comrades we apologise to all the women and all Comrades for the tweet earlier..such will not happen again..”‚ the party tweeted from its ANC Jozi ?@ANCJHB handle.
Contacted for comment‚ ANC regional spokesman Jodilee Matogo said the image had been circulating amongst ANC members via a Whatsapp group and later landed on the twitter account after being posted by an official.
“There was no official instruction to post the image. It is not an image of the ANC‚ the person who posted it did so without instruction‚” said Matogo.
“The ANC has a long history of upholding women and respecting women’s rights. We are not about denigrating women and depicting them as objects. We apologise for the unfortunate incident.”
Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula was recently also caught up in controversy after a picture of a half-naked woman was posted on his Twitter account. He denied posting the picture‚ claiming his account was hacked.
A selection of the public’s responses to the ANC’s costume photo on Twitter:
“You are disgusting it shows what you think of us as women. You see us as objects rather than anything else. Sies“. — @mdira–e
@Mogotsi tweeted: “@ANCJHB Too late for an apology‚ we now know what you think of black women. You’ve got no leg to stand on!”
@nomorebullSA : “@ANCJHB Your continued lack of respect for women is incredible. They’re our sisters‚ not campaigning tools for leering old men. Wow!”
@solkganyago: “@ANCJHB Don’t apologise for a tweet... apologise for objectifying women‚ that’s what the outrage is about... damnt!”
- Tiso Black Star Group Digital/Tiso Black Star Group Local Government team
ANC forgets gender sensitivity button with bikini tweet
The ‘seductive babe’ image was uploaded with a caption reading ‘What do you make of this swimsuit’ under the #RegistrationWeek #VoteANC hashtags.
In response to the outrage it was greeted with on social media‚ a shame-faced ANC removed it and posted these messages: “Comrades‚ we apologise for the tweet we posted earlier it was in appropriate..” (sic).
“Comrades we apologise to all the women and all Comrades for the tweet earlier..such will not happen again..”‚ the party tweeted from its ANC Jozi ?@ANCJHB handle.
Contacted for comment‚ ANC regional spokesman Jodilee Matogo said the image had been circulating amongst ANC members via a Whatsapp group and later landed on the twitter account after being posted by an official.
“There was no official instruction to post the image. It is not an image of the ANC‚ the person who posted it did so without instruction‚” said Matogo.
“The ANC has a long history of upholding women and respecting women’s rights. We are not about denigrating women and depicting them as objects. We apologise for the unfortunate incident.”
Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula was recently also caught up in controversy after a picture of a half-naked woman was posted on his Twitter account. He denied posting the picture‚ claiming his account was hacked.
A selection of the public’s responses to the ANC’s costume photo on Twitter:
“You are disgusting it shows what you think of us as women. You see us as objects rather than anything else. Sies“. — @mdira–e
@Mogotsi tweeted: “@ANCJHB Too late for an apology‚ we now know what you think of black women. You’ve got no leg to stand on!”
@nomorebullSA : “@ANCJHB Your continued lack of respect for women is incredible. They’re our sisters‚ not campaigning tools for leering old men. Wow!”
@solkganyago: “@ANCJHB Don’t apologise for a tweet... apologise for objectifying women‚ that’s what the outrage is about... damnt!”
- Tiso Black Star Group Digital/Tiso Black Star Group Local Government team
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