“They Will Never Accuse Me of Incompetence,” Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng
“They Will Never Accuse Me of Incompetence,” Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng. She is currently one of the most talked about public figures in the country at the moment. Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng constantly has to defend herself against, social media bullies, mainstream media as well as those who feel she has been incompetent.
The former University of Cape Town Vice Chancellor has been enduring ‘harsh’ tweets by News24’s Adriaan Basson, who has been reporting her for quite some time now. Now that she has been replaced by retired professor Daya Reddy, Phakeng doesn’t seem to catch a break from the journalist.
The new Vice Chancellor, kicked off his first day on the job a statement acknowledging the challenges of the current protest environment. He expressed commitment to dealing with the current issues, extended gratitude to members of the university community for support and patience.
“Working with the rest of my colleagues in the UCT executive, I have wasted no single minute in stepping in to continue the various efforts and engagements geared towards speedily finding resolutions to the prevailing issues,” part of the statement reads.
Basson then tweeted: “No fashion or dancing videos while Rome is burning. Refreshing change at @UCT_news.”
This was definitely a swipe at Phakeng, as social media users noticed. The former vice chancellor did not waste time, and joined the tweeps who confronted Basson.
“They will never accuse me of incompetence because I know my story – I was never parachuted anywhere. They will never come for my performance because I work damn hard. They will never accuse me of corruption because I’m not obsessed with money – I actually gave them my salary,” she said in one of her tweets.
She also added, “Desperate to find fault, they came for my dress code, holiday activities, dancing, social media presence, pink lipstick and kinky hair. Even worse, unlike many people they are used to, I’m not intimidated by any gender / race, I call a spade a spade – this is bullying to them.”
