Kwankwa apologises to Faku after AI image showing him chasing mayor with whip

UDM deputy president Nqabayomzi Kwankwa has apologised to Buffalo City mayor Princess Faku after an AI-generated image showing him chasing her with a whip circulated online. He condemned the depiction and called imagery of violence against women unacceptable in politics.

Image described as fabricated

Kwankwa said the image was fabricated and that he had no involvement in creating or authorising it. He said the depiction was circulated after an earlier image showing someone chasing him had been shared.

Condemnation of violent imagery

Speaking about the image, Kwankwa said imagery that depicts violence against a woman, whether real, staged or generated using artificial intelligence, was unacceptable and had no place in political campaigning.

“I want to be unequivocal. This image is fabricated. I had no part in creating or authorising it, and I reject it in the strongest terms,” he said.

He warned against excusing violent imagery as retaliation or a joke and said doing so sent a dangerous message about women’s safety in campaigns.

“The moment we excuse it because ‘they started it’, we’ve told every woman watching this campaign that her safety is negotiable depending on who’s scoring points,” he said.

Apology and call to remove the image

Kwankwa offered a direct apology to Princess Faku for any distress the image may have caused, regardless of who created or shared it, and called on people who had shared the image to remove it.

Campaign conduct and responsibilities

He said his campaign would focus on ending unequal development, fixing roads, water and sanitation in the metro, and putting qualified people in charge. He urged UDM supporters and social media page administrators to verify content before sharing and to engage respectfully.

“Gender-based violence remains a lived crisis for too many women in this metro and this country and no campaign of mine will ever traffic in imagery that trivialises it, however it was made,” he said.

Kwankwa called on campaign supporters to protect the dignity of all women, including political opponents, and to hold each other to standards of respectful engagement and verification before sharing content.