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'Zuma Must Still Fall': South Africa reacts to economic troubles

  • Published
    14 December 2015
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South African President t Jacob Zuma leads hundreds of supporters in singing a song during a campaign event at the Inter-fellowship Church in Wentworth township, outside of Durban, on 9 April 2014Image source, AFP
Image caption,

Jacob Zuma has been criticised for his handling of South Africa's economic troubles

ByBBC Trending
What's popular and why

Faced with an economic crisis that has led Jacob Zuma to sack two finance ministers in less than a week, South Africans are responding online with heavy criticism of the president.

#ZumaMustFall began trending last week after Nhalnhla Nene lost his job. Since then, more than 150,000 tweets have used the hashtag. One of the earliest tweets came from @EllaPieters, external, an attorney from Cape Town.

The hashtag reached its peak when the latest finance minister, Pravin Gordhan, was drafted in.

The leader of the Democratic Alliance, the main opposition party, tweeted a plea to Gordhan, external which was shared more than 600 times:

@MmusiMaimane tweeted: Dear Pravin, welcome to turbulent waters. Please stand up against the SAA deal, nuclear deal, rampant looting Etc, Zuma. #ZumaMustFallImage source, Twitter

Gordhan's appointment calmed the markets somewhat - he was widely respected when he served as South Africa's finance minister from 2009 until 2014. But some critics continued their online attacks - the hashtag #ZumaMustStillFall has been used more than 20,000 times. The Democratic Alliance, external used it to issue a motion of no confidence in the president:

@Our_DA tweets: Zuma Can Fall in January 2016 - @MmusiMaimane #ZumaMustStillFallImage source, Twitter

Gordhan's predecessor, David van Rooyen, lasted only four days in the job - and many South Africans joked about his short stint with the tag "Van Rooyen Didn't Even":

@DonovanGoliath tweets: #VanRooyenDidntEven get a chance to take a selfie from his desk.Image source, Twitter

So what did Zuma say to van Rooyen in this photo? Cape Town journalist @lesterkk, external's caption was retweeted nearly 2,000 times, joking that the finance minister's role was only going to be a brief one:

@lesterkk tweeted: "Just for the weekend, ne."Image source, Twitter

Blog by Andree Massiah

Next story: Facebook group seeks justice for a man tortured to death by police

Talaat ShabibImage source, Talaat Shabib

In Luxor - the ancient Egyptian city that draws thousands of tourists each year - a Facebook campaign has prompted the arrest of nine police officers accused of torturing a man to death.READ MORE

You can follow BBC Trending on Twitter @BBCtrending, external, and find us on Facebook, external. All our stories are at bbc.com/trending.

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