Twitter went crazy late on Thursday evening when Minister of Sports and Recreation Fikile Mbalula tweeted a picture of a lingerie-clad woman in a very compromising position.
While some speculated that Mbaks was hacked, others were adamant that he just forgot to lock his screen and had accidentally tweeted the picture from his camera roll.
Waiting for Fikile Mbalula to tell us he was “hacked”
— #Woke90s (@tkayxxiv) January 28, 2016
A hacker has access to an entire minister of Sports and Recreation’s account and they just post a nude with a dodgy filter? Plz
— the enchiridion✨ (@Mijeaux) January 28, 2016
Soon after, he sent out a tweet stating that his account had been hacked and that he was not the one who posted the picture. But the damage had already been done, and the screenshots already taken.
That wasn’t the worst of it though – that was just when the drama began. Twitter user @FisoMsimang, who describes himself in his bio as “anarchist, cynic, misanthrope and woefully uneducated†sent out a series of tweets claiming that the pictures were of the woman he was with, Mandisa, and angrily wondered why the minister had them.
People criticised the inevitable slut-shaming that would come as a result of Msimang doing that…
Slut shaming to take place in 5.4.3.2.1???
— Sister Outsider (@PeachSkwebu) January 28, 2016
Could he not have asked why Fikile has the nudes and not mention her name and add 2 more of here nudes onto the internet?
— Camagu (@CamaguMayeye_) January 28, 2016
And wondered, where was Mbalula’s spokesperson (and the person who allegedly runs his social media accounts) Esethu Hasane, and where on earth was the damage control?
Someone needs to wake Esethu up pic.twitter.com/3cnRHaxrCD
— Gugulethu Mhlungu (@GugsM) January 28, 2016
Mbaks is usually known to be in control and tech-savvy when it comes to his online presence – but perhaps it’s time for him to take a bit of a break from social media if his blunder is true.
What’s happening
— ESETHU HASANE (@EsethuHasane) January 28, 2016
Esethu starting Friday like…. pic.twitter.com/bWwekC8mxF
— Cindy Poluta (@CindyPoluta) January 28, 2016
But Hasane is pushing the “hacked†story, and ‘Fleekile’ is sticking to it.
Actually, this is the third hacking of the account. Twitter must up its game with security
— ESETHU HASANE (@EsethuHasane) January 28, 2016
When they hack your account but your Fleekness is beyond their wicked ways – – –#hackersMustFall pic.twitter.com/a9bAyAsYLR
— RSA Min of Sport (@MbalulaFikile) January 28, 2016
Files Twitter was wide awake though, as Sizwe Dhlomo pointed out that the image originally appeared on a Nigerian website – “Mandisa” is actually Maheeda.
The picture is from this website! http://t.co/F2otPvDwSL cc @MbalulaFikile
— Sizwe Dhlomo (@SizweDhlomo) January 28, 2016
Aside from a generous dose of coconut oil to fix it all, this tweep captured what South Africa needs to do immediately to recover:
*puts South Africa in rice*
— M. (@itsohmarion) January 28, 2016
But on Friday morning, the country’s sharpest puppet admitted that it was him.
Ok, it was me. I hacked @MbalulaFikile's account.
— Chester Missing (@chestermissing) January 29, 2016
Happy Friday, folks! Lock your screens, and “succed” always!
Editor’s notes: We cropped @FisoMsimang’s tweets because one image was more than enough. The story has also been updated.
Featured image: Fikile Mbalula’s Facebook page
