South Africa’s weekend trend report: 21 to 23 August 2020

Looking inwards

It was a weekend of introspection for social media users as they delved into the many political and social issues of the day. 

This made the words “South Africans” the second biggest topic of the day, encompassing conversation around ANC corruption, the EFF’s stance on decriminalising sex work, and the #PutSouthAfricansFirst movement. 

The EFF came under scrutiny this weekend after EFF MP Naledi Chirwa took to the party’s social media channels to discuss decriminalising sex work. In a bizarre and increasingly xenophobic turn of events, many social media users took to Twitter to portray the EFF as a party of foreigners. 

@Phumlan_Mabaso posted: “These are jobs the EFF say must be done by South Africans, prostitution. All other jobs must be done by foreign nationals. South Africans must do prostitution. These are results of having foreigners as a member of parliament.” 

Another user questioned if this was the EFF’s strategy to win elections, posting: “Is Naledi Chirwa of the EFF promoting prostitution in South Africa? Is this how the EFF plans to provide jobs for South Africans if they win elections?” The self-proclaimed ‘Minister of Illegal Immigrants in SA’ drew outlandish conclusions, stating: “EFF says prostitution is work. In other words SA women are lazy for not wanting to selling their bodies because prostitution is employment. We are back to that statement of "South Africans are lazy" Can you hear, Comrades, at the back?”

Political commentator Simon Grindrod took to Twitter to highlight: “Agree with them or not, the EFF cannot be simply wished away as a political inconvenience. In this time of great hardship the ANC has abandoned millions of people in need & the DA are not seen as representing them. The EFF remain a relevant political force.” The tweet received significant traction over the weekend, garnering over 1,700 likes and 460 retweets and comments by Monday morning.



The ruling party faced a tough weekend as South African social media users put the ANC on trial. Award-winning news personality Redi Tlhabi put out a strong message to President Ramaphosa, tweeting: “Sir, how many turning points can our battered nation handle? How many "new" starts & "this time we are serious" does your ANC think it deserves? Whatever debt South Africans owe your party for fighting apartheid, has been paid up. OVERPAID actually. We owe your party NOTHING Sir.” The tweet, posted on Sunday, garnered over 2,800 likes and over a thousand retweets and comments by early Monday morning. 

Blessing Ramoba shared his dismay, posting: “The sad thing is ANC looters have entered Level 2 as millionaires while citizens enter level 2 unemployed, homeless and blacklisted. This is a sad reality of South Africans.” The post received 1,400 likes and over 500 retweets and comments by Monday.

#VoetsekANC trended all weekend, which ended with news that the ANC would bring in independent, legal and forensic experts to deal with members who have been implicated in corruption. 

The #PutSouthAfricansFirst movement continues to gain the attention of politicians. On Friday, the president of the African Transformation Movement took to social media to again throw his weight behind the hashtag.

Vuyo Zungula shared: “Media can say whatever they want but realities are realities. #PutSouthAfricansFirst is a genuine struggle of poor South Africans who are neglected and sidelined economically in our country. This report affirms what people have been saying all along.” The post was accompanied by an article titled “Foreign nationals ‘hired preferentially’ for entry level jobs – CEE”. The post received nearly 1,000 likes and over 500 retweets and comments by early Monday. The movement has been wading between nationalism and extreme xenophobia, taking South African Twitter by storm over the lockdown with its comments and tactics.

Women at risk

With growing evidence of xenophobia creeping into many political arenas, the social landscape remains scarred by unrelenting gender-based violence, femicide and the oppression of black women. These topics trended over the weekend as top topics by volume and burst.

Late last week @cnejshuga tweeted: “Guys, women and children are being killed and abused at the most disturbing rate in this country.” This generated nearly 900 retweets and over 1,800 likes by Monday.



@niqita11 shared photos of a garbage site where a young woman had allegedly been found murdered. The tweet read, “22 year old Nomvuzo Atoli from siyanyanzela was found in a trash container body was found this am??????.” This was retweeted over 2,200 times. Later, @Guugu_Lethu quoted this post in a retweet: “I pray for the women of South Africa. God please protect us.???.” This tweet received nearly 600 retweets and over 1,000 likes.

@jodakgosii shared a thread expressing frustration: “South Africa has 5 times the global average of rape cases. South Africa is the rape capital of the world. South Africa has one of the highest infant and child rapes in the world. South Africa is the worst country to be born in as a girl. This is the most dangerous country.” This tweet gained traction with over 6,400 retweets and nearly 9,000 likes by Monday.

@Motsoaledi tweeted: “As South African women, re mo masepeng!” This loosely translates to: “As South African women, we’re in shit!” This tweet received nearly 300 retweets and over 1,100 likes.



Reports of a missing teen gained traction over the weekend. On Saturday @Missy_Luu3 shared a photograph of the young woman: “This is Hlumela Senti, a 19 year old girl from Idutywa town. She was last seen in Dutywa town at a taxi rank, next to Pep. Her family is looking for her, its been 9 days now she hasn't returned home yet. @SAPoliceService @tumisol retweet please? #PleaseHelpUsFindHlumelaSeni.” This tweet generated over 6,500 retweets and 1,200 likes.

Many other users posted similar tweets about the missing teen. DM

The Centre for Analytics and Behavioural Change (CABC) is a non-profit organisation based at UCTs Graduate School of Business and incubated by the Allan Gray Centre for Values-Based Leadership. It was established to track and counter mis- and disinformation, fake news and divisive and polarising rhetoric that is promulgated online to undermine social cohesion, democratic integrity, and the stability of nation states.