Internet unimpressed with Fikile Mbalula’s congratulatory message to Makhadzi and Tyla

by Bongiwe Mati

Former minister of Sport, Arts and Culture and current ANC Secretary General Fikile Mbalula received a lot of backlash after sending congratulatory messages to Makhadzi and Tyla who both won big at this year’s BET awards, held at the Peacock Theatre in California.

Tyla scooped the Best New Artist and Best International Act while Makhadzi walked away with the Best New International Act award under the viewer’s choice category.

Many South Africans took to social media platforms to congratulate the two artists including Fikile who posted the winners in two separate posts captioned:

“Congratulations to Tyla and Makhadzi for winning at the #BETAwards, Tyla won the awards for Best New Artist and Best International Act. Makhadzi won the award for Best New International Artist. As South Africans, we are truly proud of both our shining musical stars for flying our flag high on the international stage.”

Internet users were quick to put the Secretary General in his place reminding him that it was not his place to send the message as Gayton McKenzie was the new Minister of Arts and Culture.

Fikile also received a lot of backlash for posting Tyla first with many users asking where Makhadzi’s picture was. He later posted Makhadzi’s picture with the same caption receiving similar comments to his Tyla post:

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