Tito Mboweni is a danger to himself

20 November 2018

The fact is that Tito Mboweni is a danger to himself on Twitter

The new Minister of Finance, Tito Mboweni, is back in hot political water following another controversial Tweet.

The new finance minister comes across as a sophisticated version of Donald Trump posting the first thing that comes to mind on Twitter.

This time the minister “liked” a Tweet by Black First Land First stormtrooper Leslie Maasdorp.

The Tweet takes a swipe at his cabinet colleague, Pravin Gordhan, and was posted ahead of his appearance before the Zondo Commission.

What compounds the embarrassment is that National Treasury is desperately trying to save the minister from himself by claiming his account may have been hacked.

However, this is hardly credible given the fact that National Treasury tried to pass off last week’s meeting with national editors as being part of “normal ongoing engagements with stakeholders”.

This was an outright lie because there was nothing “normal” or “ongoing” about the minister’s meeting with national editors.

The meeting with national editors was scheduled after a midnight meltdown in which the minister declared “war” on editors in Twitter.

The last thing jittery investors need is a finance minister who spends time flirting on social media with stormtroopers who support “radical economic transformation”.

In the end, we do not have all the facts but the new finance minister is clearly a danger to himself on social media and needs to get a grip by starting to act like a finance minister.

Issued by David Maynier, DA Shadow Minister of Finance, 20 November 2018