Sunday Tribune

Campbell panned for Zuma comments

LETHU NXUMALO lethu.nxumalo@inl.co.za

BRITISH supermodel, actress and businesswoman Naomi Campbell has received a blasting from die-hard Jacob Zuma supporters for her open letter criticising the former president for turning South Africa into a free-for-all through corruption and for inciting violence and criminality.

Campbell took to Instagram on Friday to weigh in on the recent protests which resulted in deaths, looting and the destruction of businesses which have set the country back by billions of rand. She urged Zuma to act by taking responsibility for the calamity which gripped South Africa, affecting many families.

“This isn’t the South Africa I remember and that millions of South Africans fought for. The South Africa that overcame apartheid, showed the world that change was possible. Led the battle

in the fight against HIV/AIDS and has weathered countless efforts to undermine the new South Africa,” she wrote. “I have watched how over the last few years you have protested your innocence at the allegations tabled against you of corruption and allowing mass state capture.”

Many applauded the supermodel for speaking out against Zuma, who has been a “curse” for the country. However it was not long before Zuma followers threw insults at Campbell and urged her to mind her own business.

A social media user said: “I hear Naomi Campbell thought just because she was loved by the Mandela family, she is loved by all South Africans. She was wrong. Days of 'Mandela magic' are gone.”

But it was Duduzile Zuma-sambudla, Zuma’s daughter, who dragged the model through the mud reminding her of her past scandals involving Charles Taylor, the former president of Liberia convicted of war crimes.

Zuma-sambudla also reminded Campbell that she was a recovering drug addict and that she needed to focus her energy on her billionaire ex-boyfriend, Vladislav Doronin, who she broke up with in 2013 who was suing her for unlawfully keeping property worth more than R43 million.

After receiving a barrage of unpleasant responses, Campbell deactivated comments on her original post.

FRONT PAGE

en-za

2021-08-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-08-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://sundaytribune.pressreader.com/article/281492164358548

African News Agency