The Eastern Cape government has called for the person who posted a video, purportedly of premier Noxolo Kiviet drunk at an East London bar, to be prosecuted.
It vowed to investigate the video's posting. The video is available on You Tube, 2oceansvibe, and other media sites. It shows a woman similar in appearance to Kiviet.
"The person on the video is not premier Kiviet, and the culprit who posted it should be brought to book," the provincial government said in a statement.
"Only the culprit knows what his intentions are, but this act is disrespectful and malicious and we will not let him get away with it. Premier Kiviet is a respected leader and mother and her image should not be subjected to outrageous social network jokes."
It described the video as "distasteful, disrespectful and false".
"Social networks are there for people to share information and keep in contact with each other, not to harm other people."
Cape Town-based website 2oceansvibe on Thursday reported the video had been shot by a man using his Blackberry mobile phone, at a sports bar in East London. It dated the video Friday, February 24, 11.57pm.
The man told the site the woman in the video was Kiviet.
"It was definitely Noxolo," 2oceansvibe quoted him as saying.
"I was there from 10pm 'til midnight. I left at midnight, and she was still there."
On watching the video, Sapa was not able to clearly distinguish the woman's features.
At one point, the woman is heard saying: "Black people, they like to lie."
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