Lockdown exposes leaders’ comical blunders
Mzansi sees lighter side of the mistakes
It’s been a laugh-a-minute with the leaders of this country during live coronavirus briefings.
President Cyril Ramaphosa never ceases to disappoint with his playfulness. First, he played into the viral meme when lockdown was announced, stating that he never said which year lockdown would end.
Soon after, the wearing of cloth masks was made mandatory and Ramaphosa ended his briefing by trying to put on his.
But over the eyes it went, snapping at the ears, over the nose, making him look like a character out of the Bird Box film. Like naughty school children, South Africans couldn’t contain their laughter and made hundreds of memes capturing the awkward act.
But a cheerful Ramaphosa responded delightfully the following day by saying he would start his own channel on how to put on a mask.
After Cooperative Governance Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-zuma announced on Wednesday night that cigarettes will still not be sold, meme makers sent out a masked Ramaphosa, stating that it’s their punishment for laughing at him.
Then there was Jackson Mthembu who got his Vs mixed up when addressing the need for more personal protective equipment in hospitals. Instead of saying “issues of ventilators”, he said “issues of vibrators” – sending social media into overdrive. He apologised for his gaffe.
But the worst of the lost has to be Eastern Cape health MEC Sindiswa Gomba who forgot to mute her mic during a virtual briefing with Health Minister Zweli Mkhize.
The nation heard the MEC’S irritation as Gomba muttered the Isixhosa phrase “andidikwe”. Not even the English term
– fed up – clearly explains the phrase.
She also apologised for this, saying: “I understand the impression that was created when I said ‘andidikwe, ndiyatsha’ [I’m fed up and hot] during the briefing. At the time of saying that, I was moving away from the laptop and taking off the doek.
“I profusely apologise for the wrong impression that this created as I am committed in the fight against this [global] pandemic.”
Oh, and even though the president says you can smoke, it was, it seems, a joke on all those dying for a puff.