Coconut Kelz mocks Kevin Pietersen's 'without tourism, the animals will go' comment

Retired cricketer turned conservationist Kevin Pietersen was the butt of the joke on Twitter after social media users took a dig at his “without tourism, the animals will go” comment.

This week, the cricketer voiced his opinion on the struggle faced by the South African tourism industry brought about by the lockdown.

However, his rant left many confused after he called President Cyril Ramaphosa and the government "useless" for prohibiting leisure travel.

“I cannot for the life of me understand how useless the South African government is being with its tourism industry. You, Cyril Ramaphosa [and the] presidency should be sorting this! It employs millions of your people! 7.5M people! Without tourism, the animals will go!” (sic).

In another tweet, Pietersen suggested that the government should open interprovincial travel, adding that safari vehicles were much safer than taxis.

While Pietersen's argument may have had good intentions, many users took jabs at “the animals will go” comment and what he meant by it.

Chiming in, satirist and comedian Coconut Kelz mocked Pietersen's comment, saying she agreed with him. “Totes agree with KP. Cyril and you(r) people don’t listen,” she said.

Taking an extract from her book Coconut Kelz’s Guide to Surviving This Shithole, Kelz said animals are very important to “us white folks”. 

“The order of importance of God’s creatures is as follows; white people, then dogs, rhino, Indian people, shellfish (except sushi and prawns), coloured people, wildlife (except the ones we trophy hunt), then sheep and goats, then black people.”

One user, Mandy Sibiya, who claimed to work at a national park “confirmed” that the animals did not leave.

Here is a snapshot of how many tweeps took the mickey out of Pietersen's “the animals will go” comment.