Van Rooyen lampooned on Twitter
|Published
David van Rooyen. Picture: Elmond Jiyane David van Rooyen. Picture: Elmond Jiyane
Durban - The ill-fated David van Rooyen can’t catch a break.
Since President Jacob Zuma named him as finance minister on Wednesday, he has been the butt of many a joke, and this only got worse after he was replaced by Pravin Gordhan a mere four days after his appointment.
The ever-quick and ever-witty users of Facebook and Twitter had memes and hashtags created soon after his booting, but none as popular as #VanRooyenDidntEven. The hashtag plays on Van Rooyen’s stint as the finance minister who didn’t even get to enjoy the little pleasures that one gets from getting a new, exciting job.
@Kaveer85 tweeted: “#VanRooyenDidntEven Have enough to time to have Nene’s name taken off the office door. Ag shame.”
@MaxineSamuel wrote: “#VanRooyenDidntEven get the wifi password.”
The hashtag trended all of yesterday and had local comedians contributing a lot of the laughs.
Donovan Goliath, who first tweeted the hashtag, gave a few zingers like: “#VanRooyenDidntEven get to personalise his screensaver with his name,” and “#VanRooyenDidntEven get a chance to update his LinkedIn profile.”
Comedian Nina Hastie wrote: “#VanRooyenDidntEven assign a motivational quote to his email signature,” and “#VanRooyenDidntEven get an assigned parking spot”.
Others joked that Gordhan shouldn’t get too comfortable even though he was hailed as a hero for his return bolstering the fallen rand.
@Debora_Patta wrote: “#PravinGordhan only gets sworn in at 10am – do you think Trevor Manuel needs to press his suit just in case?” while @daphnesargent warned: “Welcome back 2 our hot seat #PravinGordhan remember our people’s favorite: #trevormanuel is just a phone call away!”
Comedian Deep Fried Man tweeted: “I have no issues with going retro but I feel Zuma should have gone all the way and gotten Trevor Manuel in.”
Many memes also showed Manuel’s face.
THE MERCURY