The foul-mouthed tirade by Lumka Oliphant‚ the spokesman for the social development minister‚ on her Facebook page is no laughing matter and she should be fired. Oliphant used her social media account to launch an expletive-fuelled defence of her minister‚ Bathabile Dlamini‚ whom The Citizen had reported looked "unsteady on her feet" at a recent event. While the substance of her tirade might be the stuff of social media virality‚ it talks to a far more important issue - the disdain that many public officials have for the citizens they are meant to serve. While Oliphant feels that she can throw vulgarity in the face of South Africans without consequence‚ so too does the errant nurse that orders a severely injured man in a state hospital to change his own dressings. Or the surly Home Affairs official who cannot bother to assist a civilian applying for an official document.
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