It’s a big day for South Africa (and not just because it’s a public holiday tomorrow). It’s No Confidence Day, as some political parties are labelling it, and that could signal a shift in political power in the country.
But you might not be able to follow proceedings from the comfort of your television or AM/FM radio. Instead, you’re probably at work slaving away over a hot keyboard.
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If that’s the case, don’t worry. This article aims to highlight the various ways to follow the No Confidence motion as it happens in Parliament, and beyond.
Some must-bookmark information first:
- The voting procedure as outlined by Parliament
- The order paper for the National Assembly debate commencing at 2pm, Tuesday.
- Our previous coverage of President Jacob Zuma
- Yesterday’s #SecretBallot announcement: Baleka Mbete and the Twitter aftermath
- Here’s how Motions of No Confidence work in other countries
- The current Rand/Dollar exchange rate
- Ranjeni Munusamy’s 14-point guide on surviving No Confidence Day
- What actually happens if the Vote of No Confidence is successful (for the opposition)
Note: proceedings from Parliament will begin at 2pm, Tuesday.
Follow Memeburn’s political journalist Twitter list
Following our Digital All Stars piece published earlier this year, we’ve crafted a list of often-tweeting journalists who will likely cover the No Confidence proceedings from the ground.
You can use the list whether you have a Twitter account or not.
Twitter’s ridiculous (and growing) list of hashtags
While Twitter hashtags allow information and tweets to be organised in logical, threaded streams, too many hashtags can often have the exact opposite effect.
Not to worry though. Using Twitter’s advanced search string functions, you can filter tweets using a number of hashtag.
Below is an updating list of hashtags you should paste into Twitter’s search bar, and keep an eye on.
#VoteOfNoConfidence OR #NoConfidenceVote OR #NoConfidence OR #NoConfidenceDay OR #MotionOfNoConfidence OR #Parliament OR #ZumaVote OR #BalekaMbete OR #ZumaMustFall OR #SecretBallot
Protests currently taking place in Soweto are being documented using #Soweto. While protests beginning in Cape Town are being discussed using #Keizersgracht and #UniteBehind.
Livestreams on YouTube
The popular media houses should be broadcasting proceedings live on YouTube. We’ve embedded ANN7’s feed below [lol – ed], as it’s seemingly the only 24-hour long stream available on YouTube.
Once other streams are live, we’ll be sure to embed those as well.
Direct from Parliament:
ANN7:
SABC:
3 Twitter lists of South Africa’s political all stars
Where there’s a topic, there’s probably a Twitter list for it.
This particular list includes some of South Africa’s most followed politicians as outlined in this Digital All Stars article from April 2017.
Another list, including parties, regional party accounts and other members of governance, can be found here.
Finally, for direct commentary from ministries and department heads, this is the Twitter list for you.
Good ol’ live blogs
While Twitter has largely made live blogs redundant, they still offer more than 140-character updates at a time. We’ve listed some of the more popular live blogs covering the No Confidence Day below.
Instagram and Facebook
For a platform that hosts pictures of breakfasts and Table Mountain, Instagram might not seem like a useful tool to use during a serious political incident, but it is. In fact, Instagram might be one of the better ways to view images in and around Cape Town’s Parliamentary precinct today.
Visit the below location tags for geolocated photographs from Parliament, Cape Town’s CBD and beyond.
You can also use the above mentioned Twitter hashtags in Instagram too.
This trick also works for Facebook.
Streaming radio stations
Radio has been given new life thanks to the internet. You might prefer working to the soothing sounds of talk stations rather than watching pictures of marching protests. If that’s your thing, below are links to a few of South Africa’s more popular streaming news radio networks.
Feature image: warrenski via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0, resized)
