Since South Africa’s landmark cabinet reshuffle last week Friday, chatter on the country’s online social spheres has been laden with disappointment, minimal support and a sense of defiance. Don’t believe me? Even last night’s Botswana earthquake was blamed on President Jacob Zuma.
This defiance is also set to manifest in calls for a country-wide protest and strike on 7 April, seemingly akin to Zimbabwe’s mass stay away last year. But the country’s government isn’t too thrilled about it all — at least according to messages posted on its official Twitter profile.
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Taking to Twitter last night, the South African government’s official account (@GovernmentZA) reassured in its first tweet that “Friday, 7th April, is a normal working day”.
But it wasn’t quite done there.
South Africa’s govt called for quiet on social media
The account then questioned South Africans’ use of social media as a means of dialogue, calling into question the narratives and public outcries on the social network.
It stated that spreading the notion of a Friday stay-away could “have unexpected consequences especially for our fragile economy, business and communities”.
We have noted social media messages which call for a shutdown of the country on Friday.
— South African Gov (@GovernmentZA) April 3, 2017
The call made in these messages can have unexpected consequences especially for our fragile economy, business and communities.
— South African Gov (@GovernmentZA) April 3, 2017
The account also urged South Africans to not partake in “illegal protests”, and that these protests “often” result in “violence, destruction of property and lawlessness”.
South Africa govt: ‘The social media messages are sent to disturb the economy and to create the impression of disorder and fear in communities’
“The social media messages are sent to bring the image of SA into disrepute,” it added.
The social media messages are sent to bring the image of SA into disrepute
— South African Gov (@GovernmentZA) April 3, 2017
And finally, this…
“The social media messages are sent to disturb the economy and to create the impression of disorder and fear in communities.”
The social media messages are sent to disturb the economy and to create the impression of disorder and fear in communities.
— South African Gov (@GovernmentZA) April 3, 2017
All tweets were sent within an hour between 10pm and 11pm SAST Monday night, raking in over a combined 1000 replies from citizens.
The above tweet especially saw a slew of responses from Twitter users in South Africa, including memes, hard truths and snark.
@GovernmentZA Your tweets have me like
pic.twitter.com/EVF2YsYFdu — Maximus (@Joan_MG) April 3, 2017
@GovernmentZA pic.twitter.com/AOmk0NBiNi
— Bhut’Khawenze Kaloku (@Sundiata_X) April 3, 2017
@GovernmentZA No words can disturb the economy more than firing the finance minister for doing his job does.
— Freddie Whitehorn (@FLWhitehorn) April 3, 2017
It’s not the first time we’ve seen South Africans use Twitter as a collective voice to air concerns.
The entire #FeesMustFall movement finds its roots in the Twitter hashtag, which became worldwide trends and ultimately physical countrywide protests on the ground.
According to WorldWideWorx, 7.7-million South Africans currently use Twitter, which is a fraction of the country’s near 55-million people. Granted, the hashtags and sentiment doesn’t harbour the collective sentiment of all South Africans — no medium can ever accomplish that — but the country’s official response to the tweets are notable.
For one, the government clearly understands the role social media plays in South African movements.
With the hashtags #junkstatus, #PravinGordhan and #BlackMonday all trending in South Africa this week, it’s clear that sentiment on Twitter (at least) isn’t steeped in positivity.
But still, however negative, are the tweets by South African citizens intended to “bring the image of SA into disrepute” or “disturb the economy”? Do South Africans want to bring about the downfall of their own country?
I highly doubt that.
