‘Landing in Ukraine while our cars land in potholes’ – SA reacts to Mbalula’s ‘trip’

It has been seven hours since South African minister of transport Fikile Mbalula announced that he had “just landed in Ukraine” and while it remains to be seen whether or not he is in the embattled European nation, South Africans have flooded his account with jokes in response to his declaration.

“Do they need help with corruption?” asked @DlalaChampion.

A number of other users responded with some limericks about Mbalula that could use a little more work.

“The Minister went to Ukraine, while the people waited on a train, he announced his trip like it’s a vacation, while people scratched through bricks to find a station, he’s going to inspect the war he says, while the suspects that warred on our stations are still on paid vacation,” tweeted @UrbanLo.

“There was an old cadre from Free State, made Minister on ANC’s slate, he said he’d fix trains, then left on a plane, that shifty old cadre from Free State,” fired back @ScottHRoberts1.

“You are landing in Ukraine Fikile whilst our cars are landing on potholes here,” quipped @Collen_KM.

Minister Fikile Mbalula’s tweet comes just days after a series of jokes from South African social media users about their potential future participation in the ongoing violence and shelling going on between Russia and Ukraine.

The Citizen reached out to Mbalula’s office in the transport ministry on Saturday for clarity on the tweet and had not yet received a response.

At the time of writing, these were the latest updates regarding the conflict between Russian and Ukraine according to AFP:

Mariupol ‘shelled’ despite ceasefire: Officials in the besieged southeastern city of Mariupol accuse Russia of violating a ceasefire called to allow civilians trapped for days without power and water to leave.

In the face of “continued shelling”, the evacuation has been “postponed”, the officials say.

Russia’s defence ministry accuses Ukrainian forces in Mariupol and the nearby town of Volnovakha, where a ceasefire was also declared, of blocking residents from leaving.

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Nearing Kyiv: Russian forces inch closer to the capital Kyiv from the north but encounter stiff resistance along the way, including in the town of Chernihiv, where dozens of civilians are killed in shelling, missile attacks and air raids.

Putin warning to NATO: Russian President Vladimir Putin says that Russia will consider itself at war with any country that seeks to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday appealed to NATO to set up a no-fly zone but NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg has rejected the call, saying it could lead to a wider war in Europe.

Media blackout: A host of international broadcasters, including the BBC, CNN, Italy’s RAI and Germany’s ARD and ZDF, say they will stop reporting from Russia after it passed a law punishing the publication of what it calls “fake news” about its invasion with jail terms of up to 15 years.

Click here for more updates.

Compiled by Kaunda Selisho