Facebook has revealed South Africa’s most-discussed news topics that were discussed on its platform during the course of 2016.
At the tail end of each year, Facebook reveals both a year in review retrospective for users’ personal accounts, and hosts a look back at what news stories were hot topics on the breadth of its platform.
Facebook aggregated the total mentions of a news topic across its platform – anonymizing user details along the way – to create a portfolio of South Africa’s most-discussed news topics.
Read: Facebook‘s user base soars in South Africa, while Twitter faces slowing growth
A majority of the news topics that dominated headlines this year were – unsurprisingly – centered on politics.
5) FeesMustFall
FeesMustFall protests swept through South Africa earlier this year, which centered on the call for free, decolonised tertiary education to be made available.
Protests – which rocked tertiary institutions – left many South Africans polarized on the issue of free education, while Minister of Higher Education and Training Blade Nzimande sparred with students over the call for free tertiary education.
4) President Jacob Zuma
While President Zuma dominated news headlines this year, the embattled head of state was – and continues to be – a hot topic in households around the country.
Implicated in outgoing Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s State of Capture report in addition to being the subject of two votes-of-no-confidence in Parliament this year, Zuma continues to serve as President despite facing a call to resign from the ANC’s National Executive Committee.
3) US Presidential Elections
Another political surprise, the sparring match between Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump came to a head this year in a divisive bid for the presidency.
Trump ultimately succeeded in winning the elections, and will take office in January of 2017. The president-elect – despite ruffling tail feathers in many quarters – is expected to have a profound impact on the tech industry amidst his push to have American firms such as Apple manufacture their products in their home country.
Read: Trump offers Apple a “˜very large tax cut‘ to manufacture products in the US
2) The Olympics
The 2016 Summer Olympics was hosted in Rio de Janeiro this year, where South Africa made its seventh consecutive appearance in the post-apartheid era.
Both Caster Semenya and Wayde van Niekerk brought home gold medals for their nation – the former for her victory in the women’s 800m, while the latter secured gold in the men’s 400m.
1) South African Municipal Elections
2016 saw one of the most anticipated and hotly contested elections take place, wherein the ANC lost both the Nelson Mandela Bay and Tshwane metropolitan municipality and failed to secure an outright majority in Johannesburg.
The outcome of the election saw the ruling party lose substantial ground to the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) – leaving many to attribute the loss to the party’s controversial president and the head of state.
Read: Google Earth Timelapse reveals how South Africa changed from 1984 ““ 2016
Have your say!
What are your thoughts on South Africa’s most discussed news topics, as aggregated by Facebook? Be sure to let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
Follow Bryan Smith on Twitter: @bryansmithSA
