POLL | Was Tito Mboweni out of line with his comments about women’s hair?

Was former finance minister Tito Mboweni right to weigh in about black women’s hair?

This is a question asked by social media users in response to his tweets this week.

Mboweni shared two pictures of a woman sporting braided hair with the caption: “I came across this African cornrows hairstyle. Beautiful when we are proud of our natural African hair.” 

In another tweet he said he was not “making an opinion” about black women’s hair, and told his followers not to burn him at the stake, but argued that there should be an open discussion on “black awareness”.

“Honestly, in a democratic country, should we not freely discuss black awareness. Loving who we are and not artificial Brazilian or Chinese wigs].”

He was challenged by Twitter followers who said, as a man, he had no business discussing women’s hair. Some said he needed to focus on issues of national importance.

“When will we have the gender-based violence discussion? When will we have the discussion on young girls not affording sanitary pads? Those discussions are more important than what black women put on their heads. Whether I’m natural or have a wig is irrelevant, baba,” said one Twitter user.