#ZumaMustFall dominated social media over the past week, according to media monitoring company ROi Africa.
While it received 11,02% of news coverage, on social media, #ZumaMustFall took up 51,75% of the conversation on social media over the past week.
ROi Africa MD Tonya Khoury said in a statement that social media “went crazy” towards the end of the week with #ZumaMustFall.
“ROi Africa saw the social media charts change dramatically with the erection of the #ZumaMustFall banner in Cape Town. #GarethCliff was the largest social media story for the early part of the week, then #FeesMustFall started to take the lead, but by the end of the week #ZumaMustFall overtook the charts by over half,” Khoury said.
Cliff came under fire last week after he retweeted a poll that asked if racist social media posts should be treated as criminal acts.
He wrote: “People really don’t understand free speech at all.”
Cliff was subsequently fired as a judge from reality television show Idols.
The large “Zuma Must Fall” banner which caused the social media frenzy was put up in the Cape Town CBD on Friday morning.
It hugged one side of a block of flats at the top of Long Street, on the corner of Kloof and Buitensingel streets.
It was removed on Saturday by ANC supporters and members, who used knives and various sharp objects to tear it off
Meanwhile, an ANC MP, Bongani Mkongi, who took to Facebook on Saturday calling for the banner to be burnt down, along with the building it was on, later apologised for his comments.
In his post, which led to a social media outcry, Mkongi said: “Join the ANC in Cape Town today at 14h00 to burn down the billboard saying ‘ZumaMustFall’. The billboard must not be lifted down, but, burnt down.”
One person commented: “We can’t burn it down as it is pasted against an apartment block, people inside the apartment will burn to death. We can remove it, though.”
Mkongi responded with: “They must burn to death as it is life for them to keep it that way.” — News24