JUBA/NEW YORK – US-based South Sudanese academia Jok Madut Jok and former presidential press secretary Ateny Wek Ateny have clashed on social media over the latter’s description of newly appointed envoy Adut Salva Kiir as ‘wun weng’ – a Dinka phrase meaning ‘the cow owner.’

Prof. Madut, a longtime government critic has surprisingly become a supporter of Vice President Dr. Benjamin Bol Mel. Meanwhile, Ateny who has since fallen out of favor in J1, appears to be sweettalking his way to a political seat through the influential Adut Salva – who was appointed only a few days ago.

During a family reception for Adut – the new Presidential Envoy for Special Programmes, Ateny complimented her as “wun weng aci ben” – a Dinka phrase for “the owner of cow has arrived”.

Since then, South Sudanese social media users have debated the phrase and struggled to make sense of it – with some concluding that Ateny implied that the cow in question is the resources of the country.

At some point, Ateny was forced to clarify that the cow was the president and Adut owns the cow because she is the daughter. “The cow himself is the President and his administration and Adut by virtue of being the daughter had a duty to protect her father administration even when she is not having government position,” he said.

In response, Prof. Madut claimed that the former presidential press secretary had suggested the entire country belonged to the first family.

“What Ateny Wek Ateny⁩ wrote in celebrating Adut Kiir on her appointment, “wun weng” and such, was totally in bad taste trying to praise someone but in doing so handed our entire country, the symbolic cow here, over to one person or family, Adut Kiir and her father,” he posted on social media.

“It is utterly off color, stupid, meaningless, untrue, unacceptable and irresponsible, only fitting for Ateny as a self-loathing beggar who is desperately looking to return to office by prematurely praising Adut Kiir, all the while totally oblivious to the reality that the country is slipping away from underneath us and into collapse and disintegration.”

“Then he has the nerve to come back trying to explain his logic. There is no explaining that phrase to mean anything else other than what it means in Jieng language. “Wun weng” literally means owner of the cow, there is no linguistic wiggle room there in that analogy.”

Ateny responds

In a lengthy post, Ateny played the big boy, reminded Prof. Jok about personal friendship before asking about what triggered his emotional outburst on social media.

“I am not going to respond to insolence in kind, for as an elder I had a moral obligation not to insult others when expressing my views,” Ateny said.

“After you insulted me personally, I now know we don’t command the same principles. What might have angered you to insult me, when as a Professor of Anthropology, you are endowed with other options to engage someone without a need of being derogatory?

“Could there be something you have not said yet and that you need a reason to say it? Or am I becoming a victim of others’ frustrations?” he asked.

“Why has my use of the Dinka adage “Wun Weng” made you this angry? I sufficiently explained that the context in which I had used it, wasn’t about the ownership of South Sudan. I said in writings and verbally.”