Bonang Matheba turns into a meme after the passing of Nathi Mthethwa. Image: Bonang shared via Instagram.
(The Post News)- Bonang Matheba has become the target of a mock storm on X (previously Twitter) after the former South African official and government minister Nathi Mthethwa unexpectedly passed away.
On Tuesday, September 30, while Mthethwa worked as South Africa’s representative to France, officials discovered his remains in the interior courtyard of a hotel in Paris. The 58-year-old is believed to have jumped from the 22nd level of the Hyatt Regency Paris Étoile in the Porte Maillot neighbourhood, according to the respectable French newspaper Le Parisien.
The Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) confirmed the fatality and said French authorities are investigating the situation. Moreover, the sudden death of Mthethwa, who was nominated to the French Embassy in February 2024, only nine months later, has stunned the diplomatic and political world in South Africa.
Bonang regularly utilized her position to criticize the department under Mthethwa’s leadership because of what she called insensitive expenditure choices and inadequate execution of services. Her confrontational tweets, such as her famous “you’re pointless” remark directed at him, served as rallying points for both supporters and dissatisfied artists.
Bonang’s Previous Tweets on Mthethwa Resurface
Those precise posts have subsequently reappeared in the days following his passing. Users of X started posting screenshots of her previous tweets, repurposing them into movies and memes that speculated on how Bonang could have responded to the news.
The popularity of memes demonstrates how powerful Bonang’s remarks were at that moment and how widespread public discontent with Mthethwa remains. It also calls into doubt the distinction that separates personal pain from societal responsibility, an uncertainty that was evident in the present moment as humour and sadness clashed online.
Although Bonang has not spoken out on the subject, her previous criticisms have recently drawn national notice, but this time they have taken the shape of viral online material as opposed to political satire.
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