Azania Mosaka slams Tito Mboweni’s apology for ‘patronizing promises’

Radio personality Azania Mosaka has lambasted finance minister Tito Mboweni’s apology after he topped the Twitter trends list for his “trivialising” comments about the death of the man shot during the latest fees protests by university students.

The finance minister landed in hot water on Wednesday after he tweeted that no student was killed during the Wits University protests, calling it fake news, even though a man was confirmed to have shot and killed during the protests in Braamfontein.

After landing on the Twitter trends list, the minister issued an apology, explaining  he didn’t mean to “diminish the fact and tragedy of a loss of life”.

“My earlier tweet about the Wits protest meant to indicate the person killed today was NOT a student but this does not in any way diminish the fact and tragedy of a loss of life. I did not express myself clearly and for that I apologise. My deepest condolences,” read the minister’s apology.

Azania was one of the first people to call out the minister for being “insensitive and irresponsible” by making the “callous” comments for which he has since apologised.

“Minister No! No maaaaan! How insensitive and irresponsible! You will rue the day you made the killing of a man an insignificant matter. Tito, you must apologise for such callousness. #witsprotest,” tweeted Azania.

After seeing the apology from the minister, Azania still felt she and many others were being patronized, so she took to her TL to slam the apology.

“You patronizingly promise everything will be sorted tomorrow. Like students are little kids to be distracted out of their tantrum. ANC cabinets and the police, the men and women who’ve led this country and the SAPS do not value about black lives.

Veteran kwaito artist L’vovo, politician Mmusi Maimane and Piet Rampedi were among  the influential figures who expressed their opinion that Tito’s apology was not enough.

L’vovo, who has become synonymous with sharing his opinions about SA’s political and socio-economic landscape on Twitter, slammed Tito’s apology and accused him of having no love for Africans.

“Nxaaa thula wena! You have no shame wena mkhulu. Vele you don’t respect us, no love Africans. Wena your masters educated you overseas so you have no idea what it means to want an education and not afford it, ”he went off in Tito’s comments.

Mmusi also chipped in, asking the minister to back up his apology with action.

“We must value all life and not trivialise any loss of life. Students need more than this. They need their issues resolved. What are you go to do about the financial barriers to registering they presently face? You are not a bystander, you are the minister of finance.”

Here are other reactions to Tito’s apology: