Covid-19: Mbalula scolds Twitter users wishing him, Ramaphosa, and Cele dead instead of Jackson Mthembu

• Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula has labelled those who called for his death and that of the President Cyril Ramaphosa and Police Minister Bheki Cele in the place of Jackson Mthembu as cruel people.
• Mbalula said his death wishers must consider that the entire country is faced with the pandemic and not government alone.
• The minister added that the government didn’t create Covid-19 and they are doing everything to ensure the nation is safe from the virus.

Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula on Friday scolded those who called for him, the President Cyril Ramaphosa, and Police Minister Bheki Cele to have died instead of Jackson Mthembu.

Mbalula was reacting to attacks he received on his Twitter account, soon after the announcement by President Cyril Ramaphosa of Mthembu’s death from Covid-19 complications on Thursday morning .

Mbalula said it was wrong that people had made these calls and said his attackers were cruel.

“I saw some cruel people on social media when Minister Jackson Mthembu’s passing was announced. They said the only people remaining are me, Cele, and Ramaphosa and we must follow Mthembu. They are cruel because we are in sad situation. To wish people to die for any other reason is wrong,” Mbalula said.

“This thing [Covid-19] is not about government. We didn’t design Covid-19. It came from China and spread throughout the world. We are fighting something we don’t know. We don’t know this thing and for how long will it be with us," he said.

“We don’t know if it will end this year or it will ravage us. As it is, we are dying, it is finishing us like flies. At the time when we thought we are turning the corner and having implemented brilliant economic measures that affected our people, our economy is [now] ravaged and is at a standstill.”

Mbalula said the nation is faced with Covid-19 and its predicament.

“There is no clever person who has all the answers for this. Yes, we have to be blamed because we are government. We have been meeting every day, since Covid-19 arrived. Government, healthcare workers and law enforcement officials have been operational (throughout the pandemic).

"We are in a bigger mess than none [sic] of us have imagined, but we are fighting. We salute our people and their courage to come to the party,” Mbalula said.