Cape Town - Did Eastern Cape Health MEC Sindiswa Gomba fart during live TV interview?
No, so says the Eastern Cape Health Department which has condemned a video of the SABC interview as “mischievous and malicious”.
The video, which is circulating on social media and has been published by the SABC on its YouTube feed, purports to show underfire Health MEC Sindiswa Gomba farting during a TV interview.
In another separate video, she is purportedly accused of being a racist.
In one of the videos circulated on social media, Gomba is heard stumbling over a word and then apologising for her mistake. In the version the department says has been edited, a loud sound of gas (similar to a farting sound) being passed is heard before she apologises while somebody laughs in the background.
A clip of the video, has been circulating on social media, and on Facebook with the caption 'Did the MEC fart?' where it has over 10 000 shares, with over 200 000 views as of Tuesday afternoon.
Eastern Cape Health spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo said the MEC had to apologise for making a verbal mistake in a fluffed word which “some bored people” then edited a sound as if she was apologising for farting. He alleged that the TV crew can attest to that.
“While we appreciate our creatives, we want to call on them to use their special skills not to insult or paint people in a bad light. They must use their freedom of expression well,” Kupelo said.
He said the "farting" clip seeks to portray the MEC as someone with no manners.
“The two video clips are evidence of the ongoing character assassination of MEC Gomba as some people want her removed from the Executive.”
On the second “distorted clip”, the MEC could be heard apologising for the Cuban doctors not being "white". Kupelo said in actual fact she apologised to the premier because the doctors were not dressed for the occasion and were then given white coats.
“To then edit the clip to suit a certain narrative is malicious and is meant to present MEC as a racist which could not be further from the truth.”
He said until the premier decides he is not happy with the MEC's performance, “she will continue working tirelessly in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic”.
“It is unfortunate that while we are confronted with this vicious nondiscriminatory invisible enemy we also have to contend with playful adults who are hell-bent on tarnishing not only the image of the MEC, but the entire province of the Eastern Cape,” he said.