Slideshow: Twits on Twitter

Some of our local celebs and politicians would do well to remember the Chinese proverb: “The closed mouth gathers no foot” - especially when it comes to their tweets. Here are just some of the tweets that have ruffled feathers and reddened cheeks so far this year.

SA's very own answer to Charlie Sheen, Nonhle Thema, grew her following considerably this year when she had somewhat of a Twitter meltdown.

Thema, a local TV personality and former face of Dark & Lovely, threw humility out the window when she began tweeting about her own (very high) opinion of herself.

After being reprimanded by SoftSheen-Carson (the parent company of Dark & Lovely), Thema apologised and has since starting issued warning tweets before the bragging begins.

While Malema's calls for Twitter to be shut down were embarrassing in themselves, numerous fake Twitter accounts for the president of the ANC Youth League still exist.

The account with the biggest following, @Julius_S_Malema, is arguably the most sensible, and its owner said in December of last year that he was in talks with the ANCYL to hand over the account to Malema himself. According to the ANCYL, however, Juju is not on Twitter. The pseudo-Juju tweets are amusing nonetheless.

Zuma has taken his first tentative steps into social media this year, and the office of the presidency set him up with the @SAPresident Twitter account.

While the president's tweets were initially few and far between, Zuma has begun to warm up to the medium. The president caused some controversy in July when he used his official Twitter account to promote the premiere of “It's for Life” on Mzansi Magic.

The show featured his daughters Gugulethu Zuma and Nokuthula Zuma.

Afrikaans singer Steve Hofmeyr suffered Twitter wrath in February, when he tweeted that he would throw his U2 tickets in the Jukskei River.

Hofmeyr was responding to comments made by U2 front man, Bono, which Hofmeyr misunderstood to be supportive of the singing of “Kill the Boer”.

Bono said on Talk Radio 702: “We're famous for songs of non-violence. That anyone should think we were pro this, it's barking, barking mad.”

Hofmeyrlater said his rant was a publicity stunt and he regretted missing out on the concert.

The minister of Public Enterprises, Malusi Gigaba, put his foot in it recently when he tweeted that he might get lucky at the Cape Town “SlutWalk”.

Gigaba's tweet was a response to Science and Technology deputy minister Derek Hanekom's suggestion that they could tweet about “rugby, Bells and slut walks”.

Gigaba apologised later after realising what the SlutWalk actually was. His spokesperson said the remark was the “result of a misunderstanding”. The march is part of a global campaign against the notion that provocative clothing worn by women is to blame for sexual assault.

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