The minister of police in South Africa, Fikile Mbalula, has a bit of a troubled history with his Twitter account.
Who hacked my account ? #AskMmusi
In January 2016, when Mbalula was South Africa's sports and recreation minister, his account tweeted out a raunchy photo. What followed was a barrage of tweets from the minister denying that he had tweeted the image, claiming he'd been "hacked."
NB MY TWITTER ACCOUNT WAS HACKED THEY WILL NEVER SUCCED
The whole drama included another tweet from Mbalula where he professed that he had "extinguished" USathana (the devil himself) with #HolyFleekness. He also ran a poll to see who his Twitter followers thought had hacked him.
Hackers have failed. USathana has been extinguished by the #HolyFleekness #mboro10randWater #movesAlong
Now it appears Mbalula is trying to influence how the internet uses photos of him, after a meme – which he started – was taken to a "not acceptable" place.
Exhibits 1st screenshot: not acceptable use of the photograph. 2nd screenshot: acceptebale use of the photograp… https://t.co/1Tmzom7sGa
It all started with this tweet:
Her: All you want is sex from me smh Me: How are we going to have a family without sex babe?
The meme was used heavily last week – notably when the hashtag #AfricanParentsInAMeme began trending.
#AfricanParentsInAMeme The look your mom gives you when the Pastor is talking about disrespectful children.
Mbalula was bothered by the use of his photo in some tweets, and not others, and let his followers know as much.
Now the use of this photograph is more appropriate than the previous use in family planning in Kenya https://t.co/sK7DrfZBsx
His followers, however, weren't sure he knew what a meme was.
@MbalulaFikile GREETINGS MR MINISTER ITS A MEME NOT A PHOTOGRAPH
@MbalulaFikile looking at this tweet like
@trapafasa @MbalulaFikile 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😭😭😭😭😭😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😭😂😭😂😭😂😭😭😭😭😭😭😭👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏🙌😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Mbalula began trending in Kenya – which he seemed happy about – and the tweet he sent out asking people to stop using the photograph was, to quote the minister, "popping."
Wow this tweet is popping !! Never expected it https://t.co/7plQmyoWhT
Here's that tweet again:
Exhibits 1st screenshot: not acceptable use of the photograph. 2nd screenshot: acceptebale use of the photograp… https://t.co/1Tmzom7sGa
For what it's worth, Mbalula has doubled down on his requests.
I said what I said ☝🏾 https://t.co/eER9a8vTZl