Zille apologises for 'karma is a bitch' tweet

Western Cape Premier Helen Zille has apologised for a tweet in which she told "gloating Jo'burgers" that "karma can be a real bitch".

The tweet was an apparent response to someone who had rejoiced in Cape Town's water crisis. The city is months away from Day Zero‚ when its taps are expected to run dry.

"I certainly DO owe all the caring Joh'burgers an apology. I was responding to a tweet sent to me of a person wasting water and telling me‚ gloatingly that in Jozi they don't have a problem‚" Zille tweeted on Sunday night.

"Somehow my reply got appended to the wrong tweet. HUMBLE APOLOGIES."

The apology followed a heated reaction to the initial tweet. Some social media users posted images of dozens of bottles of water that Johannesburg residents had collected to send to Cape Town.

"Has some 17-year-old troll taken over your account? Why are you being so petty?" Natalie E. Kendrick tweeted.

Zille set the record straight after a flurry of backlash.

The premier faced the familiar criticism that she should reconsider her social media presence‚ which nearly got her axed from the Democratic Alliance last year after she was accused of praising colonialism. Zille then‚ too‚ apologised.

"You are quite right. I was responding to a GIF that someone sent me about spilling water‚ but I replied to the wrong tweet. Humble apologies‚" she said.