South Africa’s divisive nature reared its ugly head in the comments section of a recent Die Burger Facebook post about the newly-crowned Miss South Africa, Lalela Mswane.
Die Burger commenters berate Lalela Mswane
This past Saturday, the 24-year-old LLB graduate and professional ballet dancer rose to the top of the Miss SA finalists to be crowned this year’s pageant queen, succeeding the outgoing Shudufhadzo Musida.
Shortly after the crowning ceremony, Mswane took to social media to thank every South African for tasking her with the huge responsibility of using her platform to tackle youth unemployment.
However, not every South African was welcoming of the 24-year-old’s crowning. When Die Burger, an Afrikaans publication, published a poster of The Citizen‘s headline for Monday, showing a teary Mswane’s crowning moment, commenters exposed the deep-rooted racism that still rages on social media.
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Commenters on the post that is still up on the publisher’s page made snide remarks about Mswane’s physical appearance. Others berated the pageant queen’s features and made startling remarks about the colour of her skin.
Mirinda van der Merwe, a self-employed woman from Cape Town, chalked Mswane’s victory as a political scam, insinuating that the 24-year-old’s victory was a mere formality to push an agenda.
“Well, that’s what they all say, and what happens, just pretty nothing! Nothing but a political scam!” she exclaimed.
Another commenter, Hanlie van Rensburg from Aberdeen, Eastern Cape, claimed Mswane’s victory was an act of ‘reverse apartheid’.
Perhaps, the most shocking comment came from Johann Nel, a father of two from Kempton Park, Gauteng, who, in response to Mswane’s mission to restore hope to South Africa, challenged the pageant queen to tell her people to “stop burning, looting, breaking, stealing, murdering and raping.”
At the time this article was published, Die Burger had not filtered out the abusive comments from its post.
