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Pravin Gordhan
South Africans have taken to Twitter, Facebook and blogs to throw
their weight behind Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan amid reports that he could
be arrested.
The Sunday Times reported last weekend that Gordhan could face
arrest for his involvement in the South African Revenue Service’s “rogue unit”.
Gordhan, in an impassioned statement on Tuesday night, said the
“malicious rumours and accusations about ‘espionage’ activities are false and
manufactured for other motives”.
Meanwhile, social media lit up amid the drama, according to
research conducted by international online media monitoring company Meltwater,
which has an office in Cape Town.
The company used its tools this week to scan the web for mentions
of Pravin Gordhan’s name over the past few weeks. The company found that overall
sentiment online was of a negative nature and supportive of the minister.
Twitter recorded the highest number of mentions about plans to
supposedly arrest Gordhan, with more than 1000 discussions on the matter,
according to Meltwater.
“I think historically Twitter has been the platform of choice for
people with dissident voices. It’s been used for Pan-Africanism. It’s been used
for a number of different causes,” Wesley Mathew, marketing manager for
Meltwater, told Fin24.
“I think because it’s easy, it’s quick and speak directly to the
person you’re talking to,” said Mathew.
Meanwhile, Facebook recorded the second highest number of online
conversations of Gordhan followed by forums, comments, blogs and YouTube.
Twitter had 6.6 million users in South Africa in 2015 and Facebook
recorded 11.8 million local users, according to research from World Wide Worx.
Twitter, though, is becoming the main platform in South Africa for political
conversations, said Mathew.
“As mobile penetration grows and data packages become more
affordable for the everyday man, I think Twitter is going to play a bigger role
in the South African market,” said Mathew.
But news organisations in the United States and China also picked
up on the Gordhan story, said Mathew.
The month of May has so far seen 295 online articles in the US
detailing reports surrounding Gordhan, according to Meltwater. The story was
also picked up on English-speaking websites in China, which is South Africa’s
biggest trade partner.
“There was quite a lot of discussion both on the editorial side as
well as the social side,” Mathew told Fin24.
“There was something in the order of 295 articles in May in the
United States that include the words ‘Pravin Gordhan’, which is obviously quite
high,” he said.
Reports of Gordhan’s possible arrest have shaken the rand, which on
Friday was trading at a fresh low for the week of R15.80 to the US dollar. –
Fin24
