KZN government distances itself from bizarre Twitter 'campaign' on 2020 budget vote

04 June 2020 - 16:50 By ZIMASA MATIWANE
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In a statement on Thursday, KwaZulu-Natal premier Sihle Zikalala said that no department had paid anyone to tweet about the budget vote.
In a statement on Thursday, KwaZulu-Natal premier Sihle Zikalala said that no department had paid anyone to tweet about the budget vote.
Image: Alon Skuy

The KwaZulu-Natal provincial government has distanced itself from a bizarre online “campaign” that promoted the provincial budget, tabled on Tuesday, on social media platforms.

In a statement on Thursday, KZN premier Sihle Zikalala said no department had paid influencers to tweet a hashtag promoting the 2020 budget presentations.

“It has come to the provincial government's attention that there are social media users who are posting disgusting images using the 2020 KZN Budget as their hashtag, claiming they have been paid to do so.

“We want to put it on record that no single provincial government department has paid any influencers to promote their budget votes,” Zikalala said in a statement.

The “campaign” was a sensational minefield of cringeworthy tweets bearing content unrelated to the budget, besides the hashtag.

The “influencers” were also not accounts known to have any influence or interest in governance and the content of the tweets bore testimony to that.

While some of the tweets were sexually suggestive, the rest were mild jokes that failed to solicit retweets or any interest in the actual budget.

Zikalala said any suggestion that the provincial government paid influencers is untrue and was ridiculous.

“The government did not need to use so-called influencers, as it is able to promote its budget presentations using its own social media platforms and has successfully done so at no cost.

“Besides, paying influencers would have gone against the spirit of clean governance and Public Finance Management Act regulations,” said Zikalala.

Though unclear which “influencers” claimed to have been paid and how much, the premier warned those making such claims to desist from doing so with immediate effect.

“Failure to do so may result in stern action being taken against those behind these malicious claims, which have painted the provincial government in a very negative light,” he added.


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