Sygnia CEO and prominent Twitter personality Magda Wierzycka has once again found herself in the centre of a social media storm, after tweeting the wrong picture to accompany a tweet about Human Rights Day.
Wierzycka tweeted the iconic picture of Hector Peterson to illustrate the Sharpville Massacre of March 21, 1960. The Peterson photo is from the June 1976 uprisings.
Her tweet sparked outrage, and several people pointed out to her how insensitive it was to tweet the wrong picture.
Wierzycka apologised for the tweet but questioned why it had made the news "on a day like today". The Citizen and TimesLive published stories based on her tweet.
She then posted and retweeted several tweets with images that really were from the Sharpville Massacre.
The Sharpeville Massacre, 21 March 1960. Today we remember those who gave their lives fighting for South Africa's 🇿🇦 liberation #HumanRightsDay2018 ^NS pic.twitter.com/xyqnkSNfbH
— City of Joburg (@CityofJoburgZA) March 21, 2018
Let's not forget 21 March 1960. pic.twitter.com/EOox6tCFVo
— Magda Wierzycka (@Magda_Wierzycka) March 21, 2018
Wierzycka made the news last week, when she tweeted that a good way for South Africans to create jobs would be to hire an extra domestic worker or gardener.
She deleted the tweet and apologised for it after being severely criticised. According to TimesLive, the tweet read:
"I often get asked‚ how can I help SA? Our biggest challenge = job creation. A thought: let every household employ just 1 more cleaning lady or gardener. Just 1. I know it's a financial sacrifice. But we all need to sacrifice if we are to save SA. Imagine the impact (sic)."
She reportedly offered to donate R200,000 to "an organisation [that] approache[d] me with a real job creation scheme for real people."
Wierzycka became well-known for being an anti-corruption campaigner online. The Poland-born billionaire offered a R500,000 reward for anyone who came forward with information that could lead to the arrests of the Gupta brothers.