Masechaba Ndlovu, spokesperson for the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture is under fire on social media after she disclosed the late soccer player, Anele Ngcongca's mother's illness to the public.
In a heated discussion between the minister's spokesperson and sports presenter Robert Marawa, Marawa reprimanded Ndlovu about commenting that Ngcongca's mother allegedly has Coronavirus before the family could release a statement.
The root of the discussion between the two started when Marawa expressed his disappointment about the minister Nathi Mthetwa for being silent after the passing of the soccer played.
Ndlovu responded to the presenter and said,
"dear @robertmarawa, neither the MEC nor Minister @NathiMthethwaSA can visit the family at this time as Anele's mother has tested positive for Covid-19.
For this reason the funeral has been moved to next week," tweeted Ndlovu.
"Sundowns has provided R100,000. The Provincial Department of Sport provided R40,000. Thabo Tutu from the Provincial Department is part of the organising committee and has been working with a team lead by a family representative and looking at quotes, etc.
"Furthermore, he advises that the above funds will be sufficient to cover costs of the funeral. The family is of the view that there must be 20, 000 people at the event. They were told that it must be confined to 100 people as per the Covid-19 health protocol."
Reprimanding Ndlovu, Marawa responded:
"Hi @MasechabaNdlovu...The family has not released a statement on the nature of illness of uMama and I'm not sure if you've been granted permission to publicly disclose such....A diagnosis was only received on Monday 30th November...Anele passed away on 23 November...no statement," he wrote.
"And no phone call to the Family came through from the Minister or his Office since his passing is all that @SiyasangaNgcon3 (Anele's sister) was lamenting in her tweet. Nowhere did she say she's asking for money which is what you are now highlighting in the pockets of donations you mention. Anele was a well paid footballer who's savings regime is well documented in various publications before he passed away. So money was NOT the issue.
Hi @MasechabaNdlovu ...The family has NOT released a statement on the nature of illness of uMama and I'm not sure if u've been granted permission to publicly disclose such....A diagnosis was ONLY received on Monday 30th November..Anele passed away on 23 November...no statement
— robertmarawa (@robertmarawa) December 2, 2020
Social media was not impressed at all by Ndlovu’s tweets and called her out on them.
One social media user said,
“This Masechaba person is way too forward, the family confirmed that the Mother is ill, how does she disclose such on this platform, and to think she's making this all about money is out of line, she should apologize to the family for this nonsense.”
While another one asked the minister to get his house in order,
“@NathiMthethwaSA why is your office speaking on the health status of a private individual? This is very unprofessional Mr Minister. Get your house in order.
@IOL