Food Desperation

This topic peaked on social media on Monday, following more reports of looting and a statement from the President. Looting of food trucks was the top topic of the day by reach.

One article – “Where are you taking our food?” – was the third biggest story.

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s newsletter trended fourth by reach and sixth by impact.

The President acknowledged there might have been corruption with the delivery of food parcels and warned that any official involved would face severe action.

Angry community members in Protea South shouted at a group of community leaders for apparently delivering food parcels to their friends and family. Many people seem confused about who can apply for food parcels, how to apply, and where to collect the parcels.

@justicemalala got over 200 people talking in the afternoon when he posted a picture of a Woolworths rotisserie chicken and tweeted: “President Ramaphosa says harsh action will be taken against those involved in food parcel corruption and fraud. But it seems to me that @SAPS will be too busy running around checking the temperature of @WOOLRTHS_SA’s Rotisserie chickens…”

A tweet by @HermanMashaba on the looting of food trucks achieved the highest reach of 45 420: “People are starving and not being allowed to earn a basic income.” He called for an economic recovery plan. 

Of the over 200 responses, only one person says that if the poor were allowed to earn a basic income, this would not be happening. Many people are saying that looting has always happened, and this is not a response to hunger, but it is safer to continue looting during the lockdown.

A plea by @JGvanZYL received over 30 000 impressions: he said people are looting and stealing the parcels because government cannot provide for all and that the lockdown cannot work. Responders echoed this sentiment, saying it’s time for the lockdown to end.

Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi said the Department’s systems may crash as they continue to process high volumes of UIF claims. SARS has agreed to help with additional capacity. 

Claims worth almost R1-billion have already been processed in the UIFs Temporary Employee/Employer Relief Scheme (TERS).

Some are still not convinced that government is capable of offering the help that Nxesi says has been provided, and are turning to more creative ways to find relief.

@JhbPride tweeted a post pleading for assistance for members of the LGBTQ community. Jack Devnarain also tweeted a call for food assistance for SA artists who are in desperate need.

Forced Removals and Relocations

Continued sharing of images and stories of evictions, along with official statements from Parliament and politicians, increased this theme of conversation by 108% on 20 April compared to the previous day.

Forced removals continued to be the top topic of conversation by volume following the evictions in Lawley on 16 April.

Mayor Geoff Makhubo visited the site where Red Ants had demolished about 100 structures on the 16 April and was shocked to find people invading land. Makhubo stated: “among five persons arrested today is a member of the South African National Defence Force in active service at the 21 Battalion”. 

He added that, contrary to media reports, no displaced families were found at the site: “from information gathered, no verifiable case of eviction or demolition of an occupied structure has been confirmed. Several attempts have been made to reach some of the residents who specifically made these claims in the media to verify their claims – without success”. 

Meanwhile, Lawley residents have vowed to continue protesting over forced removals. 

Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation, Machwene Semenya, has raised concern over the evictions, demolitions and forced removals taking place at this trying time. 

Semenya stated: “When the President and the executive announced that there would be no evictions, we understood that those instructions would be respected by all. It is therefore unacceptable that municipalities have undermined the spirit of the lockdown and have shown clear disdain and lack of empathy for the people, especially the poor.”

Semenya urged municipalities to refrain from further evictions and to abide by the regulations.

However, Semenya added: “Illegal occupation of the land undermines the law of the country and should not be tolerated.”  

Minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation Lindiwe Sisulu will meet the mayors of the municipalities to ensure no further evictions take place. 

Lockdown Regulations

Regulations around prepared food were the primary driver for the spike in volume between 1 pm and 2 pm.

This narrative also contributed to the 2nd and 3rd top posts by reach.

Conversation about fraudulent permits trended with a burst of 81% by the end of the day.

The Johannesburg Metro Police tweet related to fraudulent permit arrests achieved the 7th highest reach of all posts on the day.

Following the ban on retailers operating hot food counters, businesses are turning to the courts for clarification.

The topic peaked on social media around 1 pm after a News24 post: “Dlamini Zuma formally bans the selling of cooked hot food during the lockdown”.  This tweet has been retweeted over 1 100 times. Responders posted their frustration at what they say is an unnecessary rule by government when it could be focusing efforts in places where it is needed.

Sentiment toward the topics “hot cooked food” and “Nkosozana Dlamini Zuma” was very negative.  

Rapport posted: “we reject measures that are crazy and harmful” and said it was choosing to report on more important stories, like the thousands of families in KwaZulu-Natal who cannot eat because they have no access to schools and markets.

There was a spike in conversation in the early afternoon as the tweet received over 100 retweets. Rapport’s rejection of the new regulations spiked again at 10 pm.

The editor of Rapport, Waldimar Pelser, was a trending word throughout the day as he again posted information provided by Professor Salim Abdool Karim, who said he’s not sure how much more the lockdown can help.

The Johannesburg Metro Police arrested two suspects in Protea Glen, Soweto for selling fraudulent City of Johannesburg permits to informal traders. The suspects will be charged with contravening lockdown regulations.

The permits used a local councillor’s name and were allegedly being sold for R300 each. 

The conversation on Twitter took a xenophobic twist when many wondered if the spaza shops involved were foreign-owned or if the suspects were foreign nationals.  

Some said the police had known about this for a long time but had only acted in the  presence of news cameras. Others commended the police officers for their good work. 

A man was arrested for allegedly manufacturing and selling counterfeit liquor in Durban’s Illovu Township. 

The suspect was caught refilling used bottles of Smirnoff 1818 vodka. He was charged for contravening the Disaster Management Act-2020, manufacturing and selling counterfeit alcohol, and selling liquor during the lockdown. 

MEC for Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs, Nomusa Dube-Ncube commended the police officers who arrested the suspect. 

Testing Kit Innovation

The top 4 trending topics on 20 April related to this story, with an average burst of 95%.

@AfricaFactsZone tweeted images of Dineo Lioma and Daniel Ndima at 9.12 pm, saying they had created coronavirus test kits that can provide results in 65 minutes.

The post was retweeted over 6 000 times. Responses reflected national pride as these two young people were commended for their work.

This conversation is likely to grow today, the tweet was posted late last night.

The topics “65 minutes”, “test results” and “testing kits” are already trending.

Ghana ends Lockdown

This topic was the primary driver of the spike in conversation between 9 am and 10 am.

President Nana Akufo-Addo announced Ghana would lift a three-week lockdown in two cities.

The CNN story was widely shared on South African social media. 

President Nana cited the impact on the poor as a reason for the decision. This was compared to South Africa’s situation on social media.

The level of comments, replies and related posts increased throughout the day with many celebrating the news with fellow Africans. 

Trump accuses China

Engagement with one news article “Trump said China may have started the coronavirus deliberately” was the secondary driver for the spike in volume between 9 am and 10 am.

The article quotes President Donald Trump as saying: “It could have been stopped in China before it started and it wasn’t.” The misleading headline may be behind the high engagement. 

Germany fines China

This topic was readily shared without much concern for the veracity of the story and contributed to the 9 am to 10 am volume spike.

An Express.co.uk article was the source of information, but this topic was also mentioned without reference to this source.

The deliberately misleading title reads: “Germany sends China £130 billion bill for ‘coronavirus damages’”.

The truth of the matter is that a German tabloid newspaper, Bild, posted a mockup of a “bill” to China under the headline: “What China owes us.” DM

The Centre for Analytics and Behavioural Change (CABC) is a non-profit organisation incubated at the Graduate School of Business at the University of Cape Town.  The CABC stimulates positive social change through engagement, dialogue and advocacy. www.cabc.org.za