South Africans have reacted with shock to a public back-and-forth between the presidency and tourism minister Lindiwe Sisulu over her controversial opinion piece.

Sisulu drew widespread backlash after penning the piece “Hi Mzansi, have we seen justice?” earlier this month. In it, she took aim at the judiciary and suggested black judges are “mentally colonised Africans who have settled with the world view and mindset of those who have dispossessed their ancestors”.

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Several bodies called for President Cyril Ramaphosa to take action against Sisulu for the piece. He seemed to heed the calls when the presidency issued a statement on Thursday evening claiming Ramaphosa had met with Sisulu earlier this week and “admonished” her for her piece.

It said Sisulu had retracted her piece, pledged her “support for the judiciary” and “conceded that her words were inappropriate”.

However, Sisulu distanced herself from the statement, saying she stood by the article.

“Under no circumstances did I commit to any retraction or apology since I stand by what I penned. The content of the president's statement in its current form is unfortunate as it is not what we agreed on. In this regard, I wish to distance myself from such.”

The presidency hit back saying it stood by its earlier statement.

The back-and-forth had social media users rushing for the popcorn as they predicted further drama and weighed in on the standoff.