Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu had his Twitter account suspended, just hours after signing up.
His @TutuLegacy account was created to promote his charity; The Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation.
Tutu’s daughter, Mpho, who heads the foundation, said: "I hope the powers that be at Twitter find it in their hearts to fix the problem and let us communicate again. We need to reassure all those people who started following us today that this is the real deal!"
The retired South African archbishop Desmond Tutu was surprised to see the account suspended. But it is now live again after Twitter issued an apology. @TutuLegacy tweeted: "Twitter says it’s ‘sorry for the inconvenience’ over our suspension. We got caught up in a spam cleanup. Glad it wasn’t something we said."
Archbishop Tutu was keen to get involved with the social network, following 30 people before he was blocked and attracted hundreds of followers. 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."
"The @TutuLegacy is the only real Twitter account that speaks for the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation, through the voices of Desmond Tutu and the reverend Mpho Tutu, who runs the foundation," Archbishop Tutu said.
