This is how Africa, Haiti celebrated their ‘shithole’ on Twitter

durban beachfront shithole trump africa jlt bag flickr

So, according to a particular world leader, Africa’s countries are a collective “shithole”. That’s nice, isn’t it?

Since the report broke this morning, US President Donald Trump denied that he “used this language” to describe the continent’s nations, Haiti and El Salvador, but that hasn’t stopped the internet from voicing its opinion on the matter.

Visit this article for a full explanation on the incident, and reaction from those across the world.

But the shockwaves are only just beginning to be felt in South Africa, with the country’s Twitter users rallying together to celebrate their beautiful shithole.

Africa and the rest of the world showcased the beauty lurking in their ‘shithole’ countries

Late Friday afternoon, the hashtag #MyShithole began trending across the nation. But instead of slating Trump for the comment, South Africans parodied the statement, posting pictures of their woefully ugly nation.

Kazuki Tshabalala posted one of the more popular tweets using the hashtag, looking across Durban’s city centre and harbour. It gained more than 20 responses, 23 likes and seven retweets within five hours.

It also received a retweet from popular political analyst Max du Preez, adding an additional 21 comments, 30 retweets and more than 70 likes to the conversation.

This was enough to propel the hashtag into the timelines of South Africans.

Users soon rallied to the call, posting their own pictures. Snaps of Cape Town, the Drakensberg, and Lowveld were all spotted.

But South Africa wasn’t alone.

The earliest tweet with the hashtag we could find originated from Nairobi, Kenya. Users in other African countries like Ivory Coast and Namibia also contributed.

Additionally, a number of Haitians also adopted the hashtag.

The hashtag continues to trend across South Africa at the time of writing.

Feature image: jlt bag via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

Andy Walker, former editor
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