A municipal spokesperson has gone viral over her disastrous interview about water cuts in Kimberly.
Image via YouTube screenshot
Morning Live, SABC
Van Damme defends ridiculed Sol Plaatjie Municipality spokesperson
Phumzile Van Damme has come to the defence of Sol Plaatjie Municipality spokesperson, Thoko Riet who was ridiculed on social media.
A municipal spokesperson has gone viral over her disastrous interview about water cuts in Kimberly.
Image via YouTube screenshot
Morning Live, SABC
Former Democratic Alliance (DA) MP, Phumzile Van Damme has defended Sol Plaatjie Municipality spokesperson Thoko Riet who was ridiculed for stuttering during a TV interview.
Riet was hailed a ‘slay queen’ and her competency was questioned after her ‘English bundles depleted’, according to social media users.
WHY WAS THOKO RIET RIDICULED?
In an interview about water cuts in Kimberly, Northern Cape a Morning Live reporter chatted to Thoko Riet about the situation on the ground.
The interview started off well with the Sol Plaatjie spokesperson explaining the various water leaks and how the municipality planned to repair them.
Things soon took a turn after Riet was asked what residents could do in the interim as they were without water. Riet stuttered and asked the reporter to repeat the question. She was at a loss for words – literally.
The video has since gone viral on social media and users have made several allegations. Some said Riet was hired through the back door, others labelled her as a politically connected ‘slay queen’ while some said her head was empty.
PHUMZILE VAN DAMME DEFENDS SOL PLAATJIE MUNICIPALITY SPOKSPERSON
Van Damme has since defended Riet saying command of the English language is not a measure of intelligence.
“You can comment on her inability to communicate as a Spox without assuming her stupid. Shall we assign stupidity to white people who don’t bother to learn any black languages & have lived in SA all their lives?
“These are the same people who fight for white Afrikaans people to be taught in Afrikaans because English is too hard but black people must be able to be fluent in His Masters Voice. Niyadzelela bo,” she said in response to the DA’s Dean Macpherson’s tweet about Riet.
Van Damme further said the Sol Plaatjie spokesperson could have answered in her mother tongue or even Afrikaans as the SABC broadcasts in all eleven official languages.
ALSO READ: Water cuts: Tweeps react to cringe clip of municipal spokesperson [watch]
