Finance minister Tito Mboweni is no stranger to controversy. His career in the spotlight has been dogged with foes baying for his blood.
This time however, he might have made a grave political miscalculation… by eating his pap and pilchards with a knife and fork. Allegedly.
The internet never forgets, or forgives, and Mboweni was dubbed the ‘minister of garlic’ in December – one of the previous times he tried to elucidate the population on the wonders of pilchards and pap.
On Saturday evening, the minister shared two tweets of his favourite dish and the backlash was immediate.
“Hao Honourable, you used a fork n knife on those..?” The Lanky Loner quipped, with Kabelo urging the minister to “Eat your veggies Tito”.
Eagle-eyed Twitterati did however notice that the knife and fork appeared to be immaculately clean.
And, with pilchards suddenly becoming such a hot political potato (with or without extra garlic), many South Africans saw the lighter side of the tweets and turned their attention back to the minister’s choice of delicacies.
ALSO READ: Twitter declares Tito Mboweni the minister of garlic
“Judging from that Lucky Star, I bet it’s safe to say, no lifestyle audit necessary for you minister. Only those wearing Pradas & driving Aston Martin’s are subjected,” Earl Regan Hayes said.
Joana Langa also had some sage advice: “O stubborn lo Minister. We told him long time ago to buy your book & stop traumatizing the nation like this! Its under R400 Minister- i mean really, just get the book & save us all this stress!”
Here are some more of Twitter’s best pilchard punchlines:
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