FIKILE Mbalula is known as the minister of tweets, but social media users are getting gatvol of him. Calls have been mounting for him to get off Twitter and start fighting crime.
A hashtag campaign called #BlockFikileMbalula has been picking up pace over the past week.
Black Twitter has rallied behind the campaign, which calls on users to block the minister of police. The campaign started after photos circulated of a naked protesting student being arrested and dragged into a police van at University of Cape Town.
Among the angry tweets directed at Mbalula were:
- @MosesNkambako tweeted: “For how long should we suffer, for how long should an African child be abused financially and physically?”
- @PreedyMoore: “I think the South African Police Service is only brutal towards black people. Look at the brutality that is happening at our South African universities, done to black students by black police.”
Many users have even started posting screenshots of them blocking Mbalula from their Twitter accounts. Other users slammed Mbalula for the way he dealt with the Black Monday protest against farm killings. Among the comments were:
- @ThabisoMaleka7: “Where were your police on #BlackMonday? They always show up at #FeesMustFall protests to arrest us.”
- @MaleselaSetati: “You failed us big time, so we’re blocking you dude.”
However, not everyone supported the campaign to block Mbalula.
- @MoreDiss97 wrote: “There is no way I’m going to #BlockFikileMbalula. He’s the only minister of fun that we have. Don’t care how you participants take it.”
