Mbalula posts picture of ‘sexy’ police officer, then ‘warns men’

Twitter has never been the same since Fikile Mbalula became the minister of police. He’s tweeting more than ever, underlining his other nickname as the “Minister of Twitter”, and he apparently couldn’t care less whether people are loving or hating it.

On Thursday afternoon, he appeared to playfully upload a picture of a beautiful female SAPS officer, with the warning to men: “Careful guys you will be arrested.”

With the way her hand is positioned, it could give the impression that she has just blown someone a kiss, though it appears to be some sort of drill exercise, because there’s another officer behind her who also has her hand showing palm up.

While one user immediately warned Mbalula he was being “inappropriate” (he was told by another user to improve his sense of humour, though it’s a sentiment that was widely shared), other men were quick to catch the minister’s meaning, and joked that he was continuing with his “yellowbone” policy.

The minister faced a backlash earlier this month when he ranted about the fact that Karabo Mokoena was murdered and that she was “such a beautiful girl, [a] yellowbone”.

The term “yellowbone” has been much criticised, because it implies that lighter-skinned black women are supposedly more aesthetically pleasing than darker ones.

Many of Mbalula’s followers engaged in lewd comments about the officer (one said “No physical training @ all only beauty training”, another said “Minister already seeing prospects in the force”; with many joking that they definitely “wanted” to be arrested by this officer. “Ok I’ve committed a crime!! Not sure what it is yet, but I wud like for her to come and arrest me! I’ve been such a bad boy,” said @MasterDrew100).

Mbalula did not disclose the officer’s identity and it’s unknown whether she in fact granted the minister permission to share her photo in this way.

The picture does not have any matches when searched for using Google reverse image search.

In the wake of revelations this week that Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe was forced to apologise after being caught out for asking a 29-year-old staffer to send him pictures of her private parts, the fact that Mbalula could be posting pictures with a saucy comment of an attractive member of “his” police force caught many off-guard.

One user responded: “I hope she doesn’t have any nudes in her phone. I don’t trust our MPs.”