SAHRC tracks down man allegedly behind the Tracy Zille Twitter account

A Twitter account by the name of Tracy Zille has been causing major trouble online. Known for its race-baiting tweets, the person allegedly behind the account is now known to the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC). 

The Twitter account with nearly 50 000 followers has caused outrage on social media. While there has been suspicion of who is behind the controversial account, the SAHRC believes it has a case. 

SAHRC FINDS THE PERSON ALLEGEDLY BEHIND THE TRACY ZILLE TWITTER ACCOUNT

The SAHRC’s Chris Nissen confirmed to The South African, that the person behind the account is a man but could not say any more regarding his identity. According to Nissen the person has not yet been notified of the charge of hate speech, however, it will be done in the next 48 hours. 

The SAHRC essentially received a complaint from the Democratic Alliance (DA) which got the ball rolling. The commission then took it upon itself to investigate further. When The South African contacted Nissen earlier this week, he said the commission was planning to have the matter resolved in the Equality Court. Now that a person has been identified, Nissen said the commission is hoping to be in court early next week regarding the matter. 

Nissen, in an interview with Joanne Joseph, said the commission used a tracing agency to find out who was behind the Tracy Zille Twitter account that was causing upheaval on social media. Through the agency, the commission managed to get the name of the person allegedly behind the account. Nissen also said there was evidence to constitute what it could call hate speech and racism. 

TWITTER ACCOUNT ROCKS THE BOAT  

The Tracy Zille Twitter account has gotten a lot of attention for all the wrong reasons. Nissen said an account with its content would only drive South Africans apart. 

The account has tweeted some of the following comments; 

“SA Black men are pure cowards. They are driven by fear. Even their own women have lost hope in them. SA Churches are filled with Black women seeking spiritual intervention because men failed. These drunkards own nothing. What kind of men are u who do not own your land and economy?”

“Funny how Blacks complain about how banks give them loans for cars but don’t want to give them business and house loans. Listen here, they are not your banks. Build your own banks & stop complaining. U are the only race in the world without a major bank.”

Jean Le Roux, a research associate with the Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab), claimed that the Tracy Zille Twitter account is a fake account. After a lengthy investigation, findings led him to believe that an EFF member by the name of Anthony Matumba was behind the account. Matumba is allegedly employed by the Makhado Local Municipality in Limpopo. 

According to Le Roux’s investigation, he registered multiple websites in his name, which he allegedly monetised using Google’s AdSense. 

“In order to drive traffic to these sites and increase the ad revenue they generated, several Twitter accounts spammed links to the websites, mostly in reply to prominent Twitter personalities. One of these accounts, @TracyZille, quickly rose to dubious prominence due to the racist tweets it put out in late June 2020,” said Le Roux. 

Whether Matumba is indeed behind the account, only time will tell. The South African also reached out to the EFF’s spokesperson Vuyani Pambo for comment on two separate occasions, however, he has not responded.