He has a hotline to God but finds it somewhat harder to tweet.
Retired South African archbishop Desmond Tutu launched a Twitter account today only to find it suspended hours later.
The
81-year-old’s @TutuLegacy feed picked up hundreds of followers soon
after going live but was then blocked, much to the dismay of his
foundation, which runs the account.
The suspension was only temporary, however, and yesterday afternoon the foundation said it had received an apology.
“Twitter says it’s ‘sorry for the
inconvenience’ over our suspension,” it tweeted. “We got caught up in a
spam cleanup. Glad it wasn’t something we said.”
Earlier, Tutu, who officially retired from public life in 2010, had been widely welcomed to Twitter.
His
first tweet read: “In an ode to the words spoken by Mandela when he
retired from public life: ‘I am elderly and decrepit. Don’t tweet me;
I’ll tweet you!’ DT.”
Another read: “Some have
described Twitter as a blessing in the hands of retired members of the
clergy. There is no space to ramble. DT.”
But then
came the sudden blockage, prompting the foundation to express dismay at
heavy-handed action by the Silicon Valley giant.
It said: “Twitter has not explained how following 30 people could be
construed as ‘aggressive following’ or whether the number of people who
followed @TutuLegacy in a short space of time was to blame.”
Tutu’s
daughter Mpho, who heads the foundation, added: “I hope the powers that
be at Twitter find it in their hearts to fix the problem and let us
communicate again.”
Meanwhile Tutu’s home in Cape
Town was burgled early on Wednesday morning while he and his wife were
asleep. The couple were not harmed.
Tutu’s spokesman, Roger Friedman,
said a remote control device for the house gate was stolen in the
incident.
Tutu got up to check after the house alarm went off, noticed
nothing unusual and went back to bed. Later he realised there had been a
burglary.
Police say they are investigating a
home burglary in Cape Town’s Milnerton suburb in which small household
items were stolen. No arrests have been made.