A South African X (Twitter) user going by Rieb van Janbeeck is currently being flamed on the platform after putting up a controversial post.
Van Janbeeck shared a picture of Elon Musk’s Optimis robot alongside Zanele Muholi, an artist dressed in a domestic worker uniform, and then posed the question: “Who would you choose?”
The post went viral as it sparked a debate about race and how white South Africans are perceived in the country.
Who you choosing? pic.twitter.com/GZmYS5gKBI
— Rieb van Janbeeck (@RiebvJanbeeck) October 11, 2024
“You do know you live in Africa where black people are made? If you want to escape black people so much, move to Europe. Imagine all the white people you’d be surrounded by. You could get a white nanny and cleaner and gardener. Your life would be bliss. Do it,” said an X user in response.
Van Janbeeck simply replied by saying, great.
Another person on the micro-blogging said that South Africans should have done what late former Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe did, implying the expulsion and seizure of farms and property owned by white people in the country.
“White South Africans again refuse to beat the allegations of racism. Racists to the core, disgusting species on planet earth,” reads another comment.
One individual claimed it to be ironic that Van Janbeeck used Muholi’s picture. “Hi, I am just here to point out the irony. Zanele Muholi is an acclaimed visual artist whose work critiques notions of racism, homophobia, sexism… you name it.”
Van Janbeeck replied that he knows. “I did not want to use an image of a real domestic worker and put any potentially unwanted attention on them.”
The post has received well over 7,000,000 views.
IOL