Five public figures who don't hesitate to block haters on Twitter

Social media can be a battleground and the best way to avoid being drawn into online spats is to simply make use of the option to block haters.

That is exactly what these five public figures have become known for on Twitter.

Fikile Mbalula

The former police minister tweets often and is considered an influential figure on social media. 

Mbalula is outspoken on the things he likes and is passionate about, which makes him a target for shade from people who don’t always share his views.

He is a hot-pot of clapbacks and needs no help handling trolls, but some arguments are just not worth his time with Mbalula simply blocking people who ruffle his feathers.

On January 3 2019, he felt generous and forgiving. Using the hashtag #MbaksAmnesty, Mbalula promised to conditionally unblock people he had dismissed in 2018.

Bonang Matheba

When Queen B is not in the mood to respond with her sizzling brand of comebacks, she hits the “block” button.

Sometimes Matheba’s victims don’t even know what they did to be shut out of her account.

John Steenhuisen

When it emerged that John Steenhuisen’s matric qualification might not be sufficient for him to keep his job as chief whip of the DA if the party decides to make a degree qualification a requirement, Twitter went crazy.

People accused Steenhuisen of holding opposition politicians to high standards that he himself was not able to meet.

Steenhuisen didn’t want to entertain much of that conversation and chose to silence some people on Twitter by blocking them.

Lerato Kganyago

TV and radio presenter Lerato Kganyago is another celebrity who is quite selective when it comes to the social media exchanges she engages in.

She doesn’t become embroiled in every argument she is invited into and just clicks block.

Black Coffee

He doesn’t always back down from Twitter confrontations and has been known to respond with high-impact, one-line stingers that immediately put people in their place.

But Black Coffee is not a loose cannon and sometimes gracefully rejects opinions by blocking the messenger.