President Cyril Ramaphosa ‘clocked it’ in a speech he delivered late last week, 14 August 2026, as he welcomed the students of the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). The youth had a few choice words to say.
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Whilst welcoming the institution’s students, he took a moment to join the youthful trend of clocking it. The moment sent much of the South African youth into an uproar, with the most popular sentiment being “Can he clock the youth unemployment rate?”
The ‘clock it’ moment
The president made a warm, light-hearted gesture to the young students at the tertiary institution, which was relatively well received, until the moment made it onto social media. The video circulated on TikTok and Instagram, and the comment sections did not look or sound like the student crowd.
In the rest of his speech, the President credited the youth, stating that as he travelled around the country, they had taught him a lot of things, from the ‘clock it’ hand gesture to Instagram. Many online commenters did not appreciate this gesture, finding it insensitive to the growing rate of youth unemployment.
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South Africans side-eye Cyril Ramaphosa
In light of the rising youth unemployment rate, many felt the gesture was insensitive to the country’s crisis. Many were triggered, sharing TikTok videos expressing their frustration, others sharing comments expressing their lack of appreciation.
TikTok user @boityx said, “Clocking everything but the GBV AND UNEMPLOYMENT STATS.”
Another content creator shared a video with the text, “When Cupcake says ‘clock it’ so the whole country forgets about the unemployment rate.”
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