DA wages twar on Nathi’s monument

Scoring political points does not have to cost a business class ticket to the Ukraine. The Democratic Alliance (DA) proved that to themselves this week.

The opposition party waged an all-out social media assault on Sport, Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa’s R22 million Freedom Park flagpole, with DA public representatives from across the country weighing in on the feed fest.

Netnographer Carmen Murray said the wit and timing of the DA-led debate served to whip up further controversy over the planned expenditure. “The Stellenbosch municipality’s shopping list tweet that amounted to less than half of the cost of the minister’s flagpole, takes the cake,” she said.

“It’s cheeky, funny and sardonic at the same time. This is the kind of propaganda and public influence that an opposition party should be deploying on social media.”

The DA-led Stellenbosch council tweeted: “1 x New fire truck (R4.5 million), 1 New informal trading site (R2.2 million), 1 X Upgraded Community Hall (R2.5 million) and 1 x flagpole and flag (R22 000). Total: R9.1 million.” It hash tagged it #justsaying.

Later, Chris Pappas, aka the “White Zulu Mayor”, also weighed in on Twitter. “In Dec/Jan the uMngeni Municipality had R272 million in storm damage to infrastructure. Instead of spending R22 million on a flagpole, please send some of that money to the uMngeni Municipality so that we can repair roads, bridges and storm water systems.”

Murray said the tweets fuelled further debate and the flagpole has been trending among South Africa’s twitterati for two days. “The DA’s tweets moved the debate in the right direction and fuelled the outrage fire.”

Murray added: “This is effort well spent, while last week’s school tuck shop and chips debate, first tweeted by DA leader John Steenhuisen during a widely criticised and expensive trip, was about as impactful as a tree falling in a forest, but nobody cared.”

Several prominent people followed the DA in the flagpole debate over the past two days and the outcry became enough for Mthethwa to backpedal his defence of the expense on Wednesday to a quick backpedal a day later.

He reviewed the project that he stood by and then put it on hold.

The opening lines of his statement read: “Over the past few days the Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture Nathi Mthethwa has followed and taken note of public discourse that has unfolded in respect of the envisaged Monumental flag...”

Murray said: “There was no way the minister, nor anyone could have missed the discontent.”

But the flagpole was still trending yesterday and the conversation widened.

Good Things Guy founder Brett Lindeque tweeted: “Let’s be honest, whenever the ANC come up with new ‘innovative’ ways to spend South Africa’s money on things that don’t really matter… the only flag we see is a red one.”

A parody twitter account called Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng said: “This R22 million flag is actually disrespectful to South Africans. It has an undertone that says, ‘you guys are stupid and we’ll continue looting in front of you and you won’t do anything about it’... It’s just the ANC showing it will never ever care.”

It’s cheeky, funny and sardonic at the same time