South Africans recently made their discontent with president Jacob Zuma known by spreading messages with the hashtag above. This happened following Zuma’s sacking of Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene, which led to a massive devaluing of the rand. The #ZumaMustFall hashtag became the number one trending topic in the country. According to curator.twitter.com, 60,700 tweets used the hashtag on December 10. The public pressure led to Zuma replacing Nene’s original replacement, David van Rooyen, with well-known former minister of finance, Pravin Gordhan, while it also sparked marches across the country to demand that president Zuma steps down as the head of the country.
Earlier in the year the 2015 Cricket World Cup took place in Australia and New Zealand, and supporters of the South African cricket side used the above hashtag to announce their support for the team, which are affectionately known as the Proteas. The squad progressed to the semi-finals of the competition before losing to New Zealand, and the hashtag became one of the most popular sports related social media hashtags of the year in the country.
South African students protest outside parliament against proposed tuition fee hikes in Cape Town. Photo: Rex Features/APStudents throughout South Africa protested the proposed university fee increases for 2016 that were announced in October. The hashtag #feesmustfall gave birth to a nationwide movement with universities across South Africa joining the campaign which was started at WITS University. The hashtag saw social media come alive with students and those who supported the campaign using the hashtag to spread their message on platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, including students and those not studying but empathising with the students. The push from the students led to president Zuma announcing a 0% increase of fees for 2016.
Piggybacking on the success of the #FeesMustFall movement, the drought that gripped South Africa begged for a hashtag that would galvanise South Africans on social media in hoping and praying for the rain that would be a solution to the the worst drought in 23 years. South Africans used the hashtag to express themselves and promote solidarity in this regard.
The electricity crisis in South Africa has been on everyone’s minds for many years, but with the growth of Twitter amongst the population, the hashtag named after the policy of shared power cuts throughout the country to reduce pressure on the grid, has been a constant trending topic. Loadshedding was a major news item in 2015, and while Eskom has done well to ease off the need for power cuts in the second half of the year, the hashtag was still amongst the most popular during the year.
The 2015 Rugby World Cup took place in England during September and October, with South Africa’s Springboks travelling to the tournament as one of the favourites to secure the title. As a result, South African fans were incredibly excited about the team and their prospects, and this became the most popular sporting hashtag of the year in the country. The Springboks ended the competition in third place, after narrowly losing out 20-18 to eventual champions New Zealand in the semi-final.
Reality television is a thriving phenomenon in South Africa, and as a result the many local versions of international reality TV formats are often watched while viewers commentate via social media. Amongst the most popular of these shows is the South African version of Idols, which was recently won by Karabo Mogane in November. As a result, the hashtag #IdolsSA was popular among Twitter users in the country during the show.
The president of South Africa has been a massive topic on social media this year, and one of the hashtags that helped place the focus on Mr Zuma was surely the one that involved the public controversy about the use of public funds to make improvements to the president’s private home, which were said to be for security reasons which cost over R246 million.
Leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA), which is the official South African opposition party, Mmusi Maimane decided to interact with Twitter followers and others on the platform by using the #AskMmusi hashtag to request questions which he could answer to develop a connection with current and potential supporters and give them further insight into his thoughts and beliefs. This backfired somewhat, however, as some Twitter users began asking humorous questions and made fun of the initiative.
Zuma is the focus of this hashtag once again, and in fact, this was in some ways the precursor for the #ZumaMustFall movement which is taking hold of the country at the moment. This particular social media push was produced as a result of findings concerning public funds used for improvements to the president’s private home, which were said to be for security reasons which cost over R246 million. Politicians from ANC opposition parties the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) began using the hashtag and demanding that the money be paid back by Zuma. As yet, the president has not paid back a cent or properly addressed the issue.
