'I'm sorry, but my comment was blown out of proportion' says woman who called Cyril Ramaphosa an ape

The KwaZulu-Natal woman who referred to President Cyril Ramaphosa as an “ape trying to act like a first-world president” has apologised and said the incident was “blown out of proportion”.

The woman, from the upper Highway region west of Durban, briefly spoke to TimesLIVE on Friday.

“It was blown out of proportion and I apologise profusely, but I cannot talk to you right now,” said the woman, whose identity is known to TimesLIVE.

Her apology may be too little too late as she now faces a charge of crimen injuria, which is defined as an act of “unlawfully, intentionally and seriously impairing the dignity of another”.

This comes after a Bluff father took it upon himself to formally open a case at the Brighton Beach police station.

The man, who preferred to remain anonymous, said a screenshot of her comment had been forwarded to him on WhatsApp, prompting his disgust.

“I was completely shocked. I hardly slept because when I am angry and running through emotions I lose sleep.” 

He said he was not buying into the woman's apology.

“For her to say this was blown out of proportion tells me she doesn't understand the significance of her actions. She knows she did something terribly wrong because she deactivated her Facebook account not long after.” 

He emphasised that he was counting on the law to take it course

“I'm waiting for her to go to a court of law to defend her case because I believe the onus is on her.”

He said issues such as these reiterated that SA still had a long way to go in terms of racism.

“I live in an integrated community. My son goes to an integrated school and we all go to an integrated church, but it is things such as this incident that make me lose trust in people,” he said.

Police spokesperson Brig Vishnu Naidoo confirmed on Wednesday that a case had been opened.

Presidential spokesperson Khusela Diko did not respond to queries for comment.