UCT Vice-Chancellor Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng Dragged for Slamming Young Lady's Nail Business

• Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng, the University of Cape Town VC, is under fire for throwing shade at some small businesses
• The professor decided to shade a young woman's nail business and said she would never support small businesses like that
• Many South Africans found her comments to be foul and stated that she did not have to say what she said

CAPE TOWN - The University of Cape Town Vice-Chancellor Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng has been trending on social media for her unsavoury choice of words regarding certain small businesses.

In a now-deleted post, Phakeng responded to a young woman who advertised her nail business on Twitter. The young lady asked fellow South Africans to support her small business for just R200 a session.

The UCT VC saw the post and decided to promote her Adopt-a-Learner foundation, which supports students who matriculated in townships or rural areas. Phakeng added that she would be contributing R200 to the foundation, which was seen as overshadowing the original post.

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After receiving backlash for her post, Phakeng made a separate post explaining why she commented on what she did on the young lady's Twitter post. Phakeng explained that she supports small businesses but will not support small businesses that sell alcohol artificial nails, and other things.

She further stated that she did not care what people thought of her, but she would rather use her money on other things or support a charity.

Her post read:

South Africans react

Even after explaining herself, South Africans were not happy with Phakeng's comment initial post, with some saying her comment was mean-spirited.

@MsLeloB said:

"And that’s totally fine, Prof. The issue here is that you left that comment on a post where a young black lady is promoting her business. You were not tagged on the post, so that response was offside."

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@Maphupho_Amahle said:

"The lady wasn't even asking YOU to support her. You are mean-spirited and just don't like the idea of being corrected when you're wrong. Do you go into random tarvens shouting, 'I'd rather donate my money,' or is a young black woman just an easy target?"

@nthabiseng_ms said:

"Nah, Prof, you're deflecting. That young lady was promoting her small business. Had nothing to do with weed or alcohol. She wasn't asking for free money, nor did she tag you. You are undermining people because they're not academics."

@rendani_rendz said:

"At no point was her tweet about your personal choices though, Prof. The lady was just promoting her business. Fine, you’re not for artificial nails, but that was uncalled-for."

UCT Vice-Chancellor Mamokgethi Phakeng defends MacG & Sol from trolls: “We need to address the cancel culture”

Briefly News previously reported that University of Cape Town vice-chancellor Mamokgethi Phakeng has condemned the cancel culture on social media, claiming that it is toxic and needs to stop.

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She made these sentiments while addressing mounting calls to cancel controversial podcasters MacG and Sol Phenduka, who are being accused of using their platform to spread homophobic and sexist comments.

The conversation was sparked by a video that Phakeng posted on social media revealing to fans that she is an avid follower of the show.

Source: Briefly News