This regular report for the month of June 2022 assesses conversations about foreign nationals on South African social media. Operation Dudula, a xenophobic campaign whose reach is growing continues to dominate the conversation. Aside from being an online campaign that focuses on influencing policy and implementation decisions, Operation Dudula also engages in paramilitary activities. This...
Category: News
Bi-weekly Democracy Report
This periodic report is the first of a series of biweekly reports that will track and summarise the key current narratives within South Africa’s online democracy conversation. This report’s date range is between 8 June and 22 June 2022. The main themes identified over the period include youth unemployment dissatisfaction which was highlighted on Youth...
Democracy 2022: Lay of the Land Report
This report summarises all current and former narratives within South Africa’s online democracy conversation between January and May 2022. Five main focus areas were tracked within the broader democracy conversation. These include the judiciary and democratic institutions; the constitution; the upcoming ANC elective conference in December 2022; the RET network and corruption. The content sources...
Voice of the Cape 21/6- Sonke Gender Justice, CABC and heCareZa- Beyond Father’s Day Webinar
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Praveen Naidoo | Social media’s altered influence | Citypress
The Constitution protects fundamentals adequately, but no country can legislate human decency, writes Praveen Naidoo. Read full article
Camaren Peter | A nation divided: The battle for renewal | Citypress
The collapse of the social compact and deterioration of society into fragmented and polarised groups underpins the decline of democracy, writes Camaren Peter. Read full article
Analyzing online narratives in real-time
Social media has undoubtedly become society’s primary source of entertainment, communication, and information. Monthly active Facebook users in Afrika total 139 million, while Twitter records Afrikan monthly users at 50 million.The ease of use of social media has substantially decreased the cost of producing news and information. Small to medium players with efficient tools are...
The Conversation Social media can be a force for good in a crisis: lessons from Lagos
Social media platforms can be used to share critically important information about disaster management. Read full article
The other pandemic: social media engagement around non-communicable disease preventive behaviours during Nigeria’s COVID-19 lockdowns (Full Academic Paper)
Given the complexity of global health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, it is typical for crisis-focused interventions to have a multiplicity of impacts. Some of these impacts may yield positive or negative externalities for health priorities that do not have the same perceived urgency Read full article
amaBhungane Analysis: Who is behind South Africa’s xenophobic nationalism?
Evidence gathered for amaBhungane suggests that if South Africa descends into xenophobic violence, it will be disproportionately due to the actions of a few political actors. Read full article