A hack job? Did Mboweni like BLF's anti-Gordhan tweet?
20 November 2018
Finance Minister Tito Mboweni has seemingly liked a tweet by Black First Land First (BLF) spokesperson Lindsay Maasdorp which is highly critical of Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan - but his spokesperson says he may have been hacked.
"We must never forget those who organised with settlers, sat and plotted with the coloniser and marched arm in arm to defend Pravin Gordhan and to remove President Zuma; all to please Rupert," Maasdorp tweeted ahead of Gordhan's testimony at the judicial commission of inquiry into state capture in Johannesburg on Monday.
Maasdorp's Twitter account contains many anti-Gordhan statements, among others, accusing Gordhan of being a "Gupta accomplice".
Gordhan faced intimidation and victimisation for refusing to be a party to state capture, the judicial inquiry into state capture headed by Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo heard on Monday.
Gordhan – who made a comeback to Cabinet earlier this year under President Cyril Ramaphosa after being axed by former president Jacob Zuma – gave his first day of evidence at the inquiry.
During Gordhan's testimony, groups of BLF and Economic Freedom Fighters members demonstrated outside the building where the inquiry is being held.
Both organisations called for Gordhan to step down, following revelations that he had also met with the Gupta family.
"We don't think Pravin Gordhan is fit to hold office in this country," BLF deputy president Zanele Lwana told News24.
"He is the most captured person in the government of this country."
She said there was overwhelming evidence that Gordhan was an "agent of white monopoly capital", working for Johann Rupert and the Oppenheimer family.
According to Mboweni’s spokesperson, Jabulani Sikhakhane, Mboweni was "surprised" about him liking the tweet as he had "never seen the tweet before".
"Maybe someone hacked the minister's Twitter account; we don't know," Sikhakhane told News24 on Tuesday.
"He didn't like the tweet, it wouldn't make sense as it would be an attack on a colleague."
According to Sikhakhane, Mboweni is the only person who has access to his Twitter account.
The matter was being investigated, he said.
Earlier this month, Mboweni raised eyebrow for a series of tweets threatening war against editors.
He brushed it off, saying: "There really is nothing to worry about."
