WATCH | Department slams 'manipulated' videos of racist, farting health MEC Gomba

Video clips circulating on social media seeming to show health MEC Sindiswa Gomba being racist and “farting” while being interviewed were “manipulated” by “creative social media gurus” to distort her image and portray her as racist and without manners, the health department said on Tuesday.

In one of the videos, which have been widely circulated on social media, Gomba is heard stumbling over a word and then apologising for her mistake. In the edited version the loud sound of gas being passed  is played before she apologises while somebody laughs in the background.

In the second “distorted clip”, the MEC is heard apologising for the  newly arrived Cuban doctors not being “white” when, in fact, she had apologised to the premier because the doctors were not yet dressed in white coats.

Department spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo said the editing of the video “to suit a certain narrative” was “malicious and is meant to present MEC as a racist, which could not be further from the truth.”

The department lashed out at the “mischievous and malicious” intentions behind the creation of the videos and said that they were evidence of the “ongoing character assassination of MEC Gomba” by those who wanted her removed from office.

“While we appreciate our creatives, we want to call on them to use their special skills not to insult or paint people in a bad light. They must use their freedom of expression well,” said Kupelo. “It is unfortunate that while we are confronted with this vicious non discriminatory invisible enemy we also have to contend with playful adults who are hell-bent on tarnishing not only the image of the MEC, but the entire province of the Eastern Cape.”

The department said that Gomba would “continue working tirelessly in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic” for as long as the premier was happy with her performance.

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