#ZumaMustFall: South Africans voice concern, frustration after Nene axing

Twitter is filled with tweets voicing people’s concern and frustration over South Africa’s future. This comes after the surprise announcement by President Jacob Zuma in sacking the Minister of Finance, Nhlanhla Nene.

As the trend goes these days, many South Africans used the hashtag #ZumaMustFall to direct their anger and shock towards their president.

According to Curator, over 18 500 tweets with the hashtag #ZumaMustFall has been sent over the last 24 hours. As the tweet count for #ZumaMustFall spiked, so did the dollar-to-rand exchange rate.

The rand’s value dropped from its already weak R14.89 to R15.13 against the US dollar. At the time of writing, the rand was trading at R14.97 to the dollar.

The #MustFall suffix has been a popular placeholder for activists in South Africa ever since the Rhodes Must Fall protests in March and April. Protests for education reform peaked with #FeesMustFall dominating the news of 2015.

Read more: #FeesMustFall: 43 powerful photos from South Africa’s student protests

According to Twitter analytics, 2015’s most trending news topics were #FeesMustFall and #NationalShutdown, which sparked massive public debate and reached a global audience.

Zuma is stealing Your job, your livelihood, your social grant, your pension, your savings, your education & your future in SA.

— Dirk de Vos (@DirkdeVos) December 10, 2015

my greatest Christmas gift this year would be to see zuma going #ZumaMustFall

— Linda Lekoetje (@Majama15) December 10, 2015

Oh and who doesn’t know Zuma will laugh it out… “Hehehehehe”. #ZumaMustFall

— Nathan L’nm (@la_nate_) December 10, 2015

I’m ready for elections – we all have the responsibility to ensure that we educate each other to avoid the same mistakes #Zumamustfall

— Pamela Stuurman (@misenvy) December 10, 2015