Twitter freaks out over DBN Gogo’s politically-connected family tree

What started out as a chat about Covid-19 statistics and public gatherings quickly became a conversation about family trees and political connections when a keen-eyed Twitter user pointed out that popular DJ, DBN Gogo (pronounced Deben Gogo) is the daughter of South African Minister in the Presidency, Jeff Radebe.

Mining magnate and businesswoman, Bridgette Radebe, is her stepmother.

On Wednesday evening, Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize shocked the nation with the day’s Covid-19 stats, declaring that over 21,000 new cases had been discovered after testing efforts had also been ramped up.

“Coz I thought yal said it was groove taking us to top,” tweeted DBN Gogo, whose real name is Mandisa Radebe.

She quickly deleted the tweet and deleted another in which she is alleged to have said that the “incubation period” had passed.

News of her lineage has split the timeline, leading to the DJ topping Twitter trend lists on Thursday.

On the one hand, people are commending her for getting ahead without the family name while others have insisted that whether or not she used the family name, the mere fact that she is from a well off family gave her the head start many could only dream of.

There are also those arguing that her position of privilege (and career as a DJ) has coloured her view of the pandemic and the need for certain government interventions.

Another sore point for some of her fans and followers is the fact that they no longer consider her a Durban native after finding out that she grew up in Pretoria and Europe.

DBN Gogo has been actively tweeting since Thursday morning and took some time to remind people that she’s a hard worker. This after spending most of her morning liking and sharing tweets which argued that she did not use her family name to get to where she is today.

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