DURBAN - THE ANC in KwaZulu-Natal has cautioned against the use of social media to peddle incorrect information, stressing that this could cause a lot of harm to other people.
The party was commenting after a video circulated on social media platforms showing former ANC deployed mayors including Zandile Gumede dancing at a studio, with the post implying that the former leaders were celebrating the ruling party’s poor performance in the recent local government elections.
ANC KwaZulu-Natal spokesperson Nhlakanipho Ntombela questioned the motive behind circulating the video.
“The ANC has noted with abhorrence the video circulating on social networks containing our former mayors ‘allegedly celebrating the loss of the ANC in some municipalities’.
“Reports on the unauthentic video speculate that former mayors were celebrating the slight decline of the ANC support in the recent local government election,” said Ntombela.
Ntombela explained, however, that the video was recorded after the mayoral interviews on radio station Ukhozi FM back in 2017.
“Some of the comrades in the video are no longer representing the ANC as mayors, this is undoubtedly an old video with the intention to sow unnecessary divisions within the liberation movement. No member of the ANC could celebrate the decline in support of the organisation”, the spokesperson continued.
He expressed the ruling party’s disappointment pointing out that the practice of circulating incorrect information on social media was not only unethical, but also demonstrated the intentions of people that sought to destroy the ANC.
“We, therefore, condemn the motives of any person – whether within or outside the ANC– who saw it fit to disseminate such a devious video,” Ntombela stressed.
Former Msunduzi mayor Themba Njilo expressed disappointment on how the video had been used to communicate a wrong message.
Describing the video, he said: “We were invited as mayors to tell the listeners what to expect in our cities during the festive season and then during the commercial break a song played and we danced to it. Now this video is being used wrongly,” Njilo told The Mercury.
He also dismissed suggestions that he was happy with the decline in ANC support in the recent elections.
THE MERCURY