Finance minister Tito Mboweni declared war on someone via Twitter late on Thursday night.
He may have joined US President Donald Trump in declaring war on the media, or he may have joined the media in its war on Trump. His cryptic tweets are open to many different interpretations.
Wars start in different ways. Spears and shields, gun powder, bullets, and now through media: printed and electronic ( eg trade wars by a super power President ), and then Social media!! Well, the SA Editors must be Editors!! If needs be, we will be forced into the fight, WAR!
— Tito Mboweni (@tito_mboweni) November 8, 2018
The problem is that there will be COLLATERAL DAMAGE!!
— Tito Mboweni (@tito_mboweni) November 8, 2018
Many people might not know this, I am a product of the warrior comanders of the mighty Zulu Army from the northern part of KZN, eNgwavuma , we fear nothing! We die only with spears on our chests NOT our backs. Mayihlome! We face the fire NOT run away from it. 💪🏿💪🏿
— Tito Mboweni (@tito_mboweni) November 8, 2018
The time to be gentle is OVER. The line has been drawn on the sand! This far and no further. Ma ku lwiwe maqawe!!
— Tito Mboweni (@tito_mboweni) November 8, 2018
"I like fighting, just point out who we [are] fighting against," said one of Mboweni's twitter followers, Tony Yengeni.
Heehh..? Makuliwe Governor..? What happened now..? I like fighting, just point out who we fighting against..i will ask for the reasons after..!
— Tornado..Veteran 102 (@tyengeni1954) November 9, 2018
Some of the comments on Mboweni's posts blamed the new finance minister for the rand's woes in the early hours of Friday morning. The resurgent dollar, following hawkish comments by the US Federal Reserve Bank on Thursday evening, made most currencies slide, but the rand has fared worse than most.
Various commentators wondered if Mboweni's account had been hacked, and everyone appeared puzzled by what the finance minister was trying to communicate.
Your posts today are a little unnerving for a finance minister . Lots of innuendo which I have no idea what you talking about. Surely our economy and markets need an unambiguous message from you?
— piers (not Morgan ) (@ProctorPiers) November 8, 2018
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