Cape Town - Slain Bafana captain Senzo Meyiwa’s father has unwittingly become the butt of the top trending Twitter joke in the country – for two days running.
The hashtag #NotSenzosDad had South Africans mimicking the greeting pose that Meyiwa’s father Samuel adopted, hanging out of the passenger window of a car with his arms outstretched at his son’s funeral at Moses Mabhida Stadium on Sunday.
The trend has steadily gathered momentum over the past week, despite many Twitter users slamming its irreverence for the man who recently lost his son.
The picture-driven craze had people hanging out of all sorts of objects with arms outstretched, in what has been dubbed the “Senzo Senior” wave.
From cars packed with up to six people flailing their arms out of windows and the boot, to a train driver hanging out the side of a motor coach – the more ridiculous the pose, the more popular the post.
Users took the trend to another level by spreading their arms while sitting in bathtubs, trolleys, washing machines, peeking out from under garage doors, and waving from under office desks.
One daring tweeter even hung out of a skyscraper window – and another posed out of the cockpit window of a parked aeroplane.
@StemoiDaDeeper posted a snap of a man driving a donkey cart, saying: “If you don’t have a car make a plan and join the pose #notsenzosdad”.
@Puleng_drama retweeted the snap of Samuel Meyiwa waving to the crowd out the car window at his son’s funeral. “We definitely need to get papa Sam his own TV show,” she said. “I swear he was born for this.”
One favourite was a Gautrain operator doing the Senzo Senior wave out of the motor coach of the train.
The hashtag officially left the country when users began tweeting pictures of themselves adopting the pose with famous overseas landmarks in the background.
Google offices in Europe featured in one snap, while another showcased a young man jumping into a rooftop pool with arms outstretched, with the skyline of Dubai behind him.
Cape Argus