South Africans have slammed Meghan Markle after she revealed that a fire broke out in her son Archie’s room when she was on a trip of the nation.
Archie, who was four months old at the time, was not in the room when a heater caught fire in Cape Town, but the experience left the Duchess of Sussex disturbed and “in tears,” she told tennis star Serena Williams in her new podcast.
Others are said to recollect the event, which occurred on September 23, 2019, and while they do not recollect a fire, the heater was definitely smoking and was disconnected and managed with.
Despite her displeasure, Meghan stated on the Spotify podcast that she was obligated to proceed with official engagements, blaming people in charge of the tour for focusing on ‘how it appears, rather than how it feels.’
South Africans, on the other hand, have taken offense to her comments on social media, with the hashtag ‘#VoetsekMeghan’ – an insulting phrase meaning ‘go away’ – trending on Twitter.
One wrote: ‘South Africa… You’re amazing – the #VoetsekMeghan tag is brilliant. She’s single handedly offending the world country by country! Shame really when most of her fanbase is in SA…oopsie!
‘I don’t care about the fire incident, but the statement: coming to South Africa was the bravest thing she has ever done,’ added another. Says volumes. As if she were approaching some sort of apocalyptic state. She could clarify on what made it daring; is it because it is in Africa? #VoetsekMeghan’
‘So after the alleged fire, Meghan might have taken Archie to their engagements in South Africa,’ a person noted. Catherine completed it without a hitch in Australia and New Zealand. Why couldn’t she? Do you understand why? Because then it wouldn’t just be about her! #VoetsekMeghan’
Sources have defended the Duchess over the event, claiming that any parent would have been concerned. As the trip progressed, the Sussexes were relocated to new accommodations.
There would have been an expectation that Harry and Meghan would continue with their engagements after months of preparing on the ground, but as senior royals, the pair would have had the ultimate decision on whether or not to continue.
According to one insider, any news about Archie being at risk of fire or having to reschedule an event where they spoke about Apartheid – would have overshadowed the couple’s work.
Following the incident, the Sussexes went to Cape Town’s historic District Six neighborhood, where they met locals at the Homecoming Centre and heard from individuals who were forcefully transferred to a township during the Apartheid era, as well as going on an unplanned walkabout.
District Six is a former inner-city residential area in Cape Town that was home to freed slaves, artisans, immigrants, merchants, and the Cape Malay community until 1966, when the government claimed it a ‘whites-only area,’ and more than 60,000 residents were forcefully evicted and moved to the Cape Flats township about 15 miles away.
