Cape Town - Western Cape Premier Helen Zille has once again found herself on the receiving end of harsh criticism from Twitter users after saying she is considering running courses on coping with social media.
The senior DA politician was commenting on a link to a discussion on the anxiety experienced by young people because of exposure to social media.
I am seriously thinking of running courses in how to cope with this. Social media are here to stay, and they still have enormous potential for contributing to a cohesive, decent society, that is open to different opinions and honest debate. But we have to take on the abusers. https://t.co/Q5JZZI0Pid
— Helen Zille (@helenzille) January 11, 2019
A number of people enthusiastically backed Zille's idea.
Great idea Helen!
— Dean Macpherson MP 🇿🇦 (@DeanMacpherson) January 11, 2019
Courses and guidelines are very much needed
— Janine Myburgh (@myburgh_janine) January 11, 2019
Other's were not so keen. One user questioned who had victimised Zille, causing her to take a swipe at activist Tumi Sole, who has a huge Twitter following.
Who abused you Helen? I have it from good authority that you abused Tumi Sole in the past, and you still have not apologized to him. Why cant you lead by example?
— Dr J Mahlangu (@maths00001) January 11, 2019
Sole is Twitter-Abuser-In-Chief.
— Helen Zille (@helenzille) January 11, 2019
Here are some more replies to her tweet:
Says the abuser-in-chief.What are you going to teach anyone about coping? Are you going to teach them to cope by forever moaning and complaining or playing victim to the situation you created? You always start BS and when challenged you play victim...wa nya shem
— #EFFWayaWaya (@PNMaster_) January 11, 2019
That would be nice, getting some honesty from you. You should also reflect on how you have abused social media to spin your flawed narratives on issues such as good governance, your covert racism, you ethics breaches and more. It will be quite enlightening
— Seeking_Truth (@rugbyreff) January 11, 2019
And we must start racist and colonial @helenzille first. Once we have dealt with you, we will have peace on these streets.
— Matlho (@Matlho53) January 11, 2019
Social media thick skin course, you will have to be it's graduate first before teaching others. You need it too.
— Jobe KaMatshana (@nkonzy) January 11, 2019
What if you are one of the offenders?
— Sabs (@sabsy) January 11, 2019
White savior mentality. Cause they must teach savages how to be civilized.
— Lackadaisical RayLord (@RayLordBT) January 11, 2019