Musa Muthombeni, a doctor known for his playful and outspoken personality, came under fire over the weekend after making a controversial joke about people being stranded in the snow.
In a now-deleted Instagram post, Dr Musa shared a throwback vacation photo of himself and his wife, Liesl Rowley, enjoying the snow.
The couple posed with their snowboards, and he used the opportunity to poke fun at people stranded during the recent snowstorm.
“We are busy preparing to represent South Africa at the 2026 Winter Olympics,” the caption read.
“There's chaos in the Free State, I've heard people are sleeping in their cars and relieving themselves on the highway. If you have a snowboard you should be fine! Anyway, have a great weekend and avoid contact with strangers in this weather,” Mthombeni joked.
The post was quickly removed, but social media users were quick to screenshot it and share it across multiple platforms, with many criticizing the joke as insensitive and disrespectful of the many people stranded in dangerous situations.
The backlash sparked a heated debate online, with some people defending his humor while others expressed disappointment at the poorly timed joke.
Well, some people will suffer from hypothermia and starve on that road, but jokes aside. https://t.co/mZIrrSsgJR
— 𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝖇𝖗𝖆𝖓𝖈𝖍 𝖙𝖔 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖛𝖎𝖓𝖊🇵🇸 (@_PalesaLetlape) September 21, 2024