Jamaican fashion designer Errice Anderson of Errice Alicia Designs posted a picture of herself wearing a Jamaican color inspired swimwear, which caused some controversy with Johannesburg African National Congress (ANC).
The designer was mistaken for a South African party cheerleader of the ruling party because she was wearing a swimsuit which they thought was ANC colors.
Errice posted the picture on twitter with the message “repping my Jamaica colors today😊 pool time 🏊#erricealiciadesigns#erricealiciabeachwear #carribeangirl#proudjamaican"
The ANC then uploaded the image with a caption: "What do you make of this swimsuit" under the #RegistrationWeek, #VoteANC hashtags.
The image of Errice posted on the ANC Joburg Twitter account, wearing in a green, yellow and black bikini, “repping” her “Jamaica colors” has been heavily criticised by social media users for objectifying and denigrating women.
After receiving a backlash from users, ANC regional spokesman Jolidee Matongo said the image had circulated among ANC members via a WhatsApp group. An official posted it on the Twitter account.
She also stated "The ANC has a long history of upholding women and respecting women's rights. We are not about degenerating woman and depicting them as objects. We apologise for the unfortunate incident."
@mdira_esaid: "You are disgusting it shows what you think of us as women. You see us as objects rather than anything else. Sies".
@Mogotsi: "@ANCJHB Too late for an apology, we now know what you think of black women. You've got no leg to stand on!"
@nomorebullSA: "@ANCJHB Your continued lack of respect for women is incredible. They're our sisters, not campaigning tools for leering old men. Wow!"
@solkganyago: "@ANCJHB Don't apologise for a tweet... apologise for objectifying women, that's what the outrage is about.damnt!"
ANC Jozi has since removed the image from its account and issued an apology: “Comrades we apologise for the tweet we posted earlier it was inappropriate”.
While the opinion of the swimwear is divided with some users outraged at the image’s perceived as sexist others saw nothing wrong with it.
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