'Embarrassing' and 'painful': SA reacts to Baleka Mbete interview

ANC stalwart Baleka Mbete has been criticised for her interview with Al Jazeera's Head to Head host Mehdi Hasan. Picture: Sumaya Hisham/Reuters

ANC stalwart Baleka Mbete has been criticised for her interview with Al Jazeera's Head to Head host Mehdi Hasan. Picture: Sumaya Hisham/Reuters

Published Oct 21, 2019

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Social media users have been brutal in their criticism of ANC stalwart and former National Assembly speaker Baleka Mbete's Al Jazeera interview, branding it "embarrassing", "painful" and "a reflection of South Africa's political leadership".

Mbete was interviewed by Head to Head host Mehdi Hasan and was joined on set by former ANC politician Makhosi Khoza, who resigned from the party in 2017 after calling for then-president Jacob Zuma to step down; former politician and now Watch UK director and author Andrew Feinstein;  and ANC member Xolani Xala, the founder of South African Business Abroad and member of the ANC.

During the hard-hitting interview Mbete defended the multi-million rand Nkandla upgrade, refused to accept that the ANC was to blame for state capture, claimed that crime was brought to South Africa by colonialists and insisted that she didn't know anything about who would be held accountable for the Marikana massacre.

Here are some of the reactions on Twitter.

%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/MarikaMassacre?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MarikaMassacre pic.twitter.com/gimX3Q3AhD

— The Black man (@TsietsiMoshwang)

%%%twitter https://twitter.com/MbeteBaleka?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MbeteBalekainsisted on that interview with @mehdirhasan she should fire her whole team! That interview did not do her any favours. If you saw Baleka Mbete TownHall with @KarimaBrown in 2017 you would know why she should have NOT done that interview

— Kale made me fat 🌿 (@poplitication)

The facts are nothing new. But when @mehdirhasan lays them out, #BalekaMbete is exposed as a shameless sell-out. @MYANC can stop pretending #StateCapture was a surprise. This schizophrenic game of being victim, perpetrator & saviour is quite tiresome. https://t.co/7TAubxsZ9a

— Jack Devnarain (@JackD157) October 21, 2019

%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/AljazeeraInterview?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AljazeeraInterview

— Quine (@quineqa)

%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/BalekaMbete?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BalekaMbete #ANC pic.twitter.com/hP4uzr4bkb

— Nicolas Manyike (@NicolasManyike)

IOL

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