The ANC came under fire on social media on Tuesday after the party extended its compliments to all "cast members" of the award-winning Miners Shot Down documentary.
This after it won the International Emmy award for best documentary.
The statement proved particularly unpopular on Twitter, with some asking whether the party was referring to the "deceased miners" as "cast members".
User @TOMolefe said: "The 'cast' is either dead or waiting on the State you control to compensate them for their suffering."
Another user @ShottaZee said: "Unless by 'cast members' the ANC is referring to the police who were shooting down miners. It makes sense to congratulate them."
Yet another user @thando_mgqo tweeted: "And now the ANC congratulates 'all cast members of the documentary', and that's supposed to be who? the deceased?"
Some people said that by referring to "cast members" the ANC showed that they had not watched the documentary.
Others tried to give the ANC the benefit of the doubt and tweeted the ruling party, asking for it to clarify what it meant by "cast members".
ANC spokesperson Zizi Kodwa told News24 that the "cast members" were in fact in reference to the production team.
In his earlier statement he said: "As we congratulate and celebrate this historic victory, the ANC encourages South African voices to continue telling the story of South Africa, as difficult as some episodes of it may be and with all its trials and tribulations.
"It is our strong belief that the arts, and the film industry in particular, is an important voice in the definition of a South African narrative by South Africans themselves."
The film covers the 2012 Marikana shooting when mineworkers at Lonmin's platinum mine in the North West embarked on a wildcat strike for better wages.
Police opened fire on striking workers, killing 34 people. Ten people were killed in the preceding week, including two police officers and two security guards.
And now the ANC congratulates "all cast members of the Documentary," and that's supposed to be who? The deceased?
— till Babylon falls (@thando_mgqo) November 24, 2015
ANC here are the cast members you're congratulating, obviously you're referring to police not miners #MinersShotDown pic.twitter.com/0YAgvvdR9z
— Azania Afrika (@SAYoungLion) November 24, 2015
I'd understand if this was Sarafina why words like "cast members" and "performances" would be thrown around.
— Nchema (@ShottaZee) November 24, 2015
"The ANC extends its complements to all the cast members of the Documentary" pic.twitter.com/DPkrFmT8wZ
— CurateZAR |Vuyo (@CurateZAR) November 24, 2015
Source News 24
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