A Twitter topic about Julius Malema reached number two on the global social networking site, as South Africans tweeted with abandon on their self-proclaimed “JujuFriday”.
“Juju” is the controversial African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) president’s moniker among his detractors. It was coupled with Friday to create a hashtag topic, which the site tracks for popularity globally. By Friday afternoon #JujuFriday had rocketed to near the top spot, no small feat considering that South Africans form less than one percentage of worldwide Twitter users, according to researchers.
However, the early local success could be attributed to the time difference between continents. Most Americans, who comprise more than half of Twitter users, were still waking up by Friday afternoon South African time.
This left room for Twitter to buzz with Malema mayhem as some South African Twitterati changed their avatars to pictures of Julius Malema and “tweeted” on his behalf.
“What would Juju say?” was the refrain of the day, playing on the popular “What would Jesus do” wristbands among Christian youth.
‘We have bigger battles to fight’
This campaign was introduced after the ANCYL threatened to shut down Twitter in South Africa as there were so many accounts parodying their president.
On November 3 the league’s colourful spokesperson, Floyd Shivambu, called for the “closer” of Twitter in a statement that instantly did the rounds on the network.
This despite journalists bringing the fake accounts to his attention as early as February this year. Shivambu at that time had dismissed Twitter, saying: “We don’t follow up on petty issues. We have bigger battles to fight and this internet doesn’t even speak to our people.”
But in his November 3 statement he sent out an ominous warning, saying: “Those who are hacking systems and impersonating the ANCYL leadership should immediately stop doing so because the laws of this country will come very hard on them.”
In response, enthusiastic Twitters have picked up the baton and were impersonating Malema on JujuFriday. Shivambu was not available for further comment.
Concerns raised
However, although the campaign received a lot of attention, concerns about the tone of the satire and offensive remarks have been raised.
In a series of tweets, former journalist and novelist Fiona Snyckers tweeted: “Trying to decide what I hate most about #jujufriday. Is it a) the fact that all the tweeters are white? Or is it b) the fact that they’re taunting Malema for speaking like a black man? (must mean he’s stupid, right?) Or is it c) the fact that it reminds me of playground bullying? Or d) the taunts against him for having been educated under a deeply flawed system that let’s down 1000s of learners each year?”
Responding to criticisms to her thoughts, she noted: “I’m not deficient in a sense of humour, but I don’t see the fun in flogging a dead horse when it gives the horse extra publicity.”
Offensive tweets included: “I find police holding cells a nice place to get centered. Floyd finds them a nice place to get entered,” “I failed woodwork because the glue was white” and “Never get into a situation where u have to suck cock for crack”.
Tech writer and Daily Maverick columnist Ivo Vegter weighed in on the politics of the Twitter campaign, saying it “whips up his support base, and anecdotal evidence to support censorship measures”.
He compared it to bullying the fat kid, “which says more about you than about the victim”.
While nobody is admitting to initiating the JujuFriday concept, the Twitter rumour mill has it that the Johannesburg leg of the so-called “Twitter Kings” started it. The group is so named for an upcoming Cosmopolitan magazine photo shoot that identifies South African men on Twitter who have a significant number of followers.
By the end of Friday afternoon, #JujuFriday was no longer a top trending topic on Twitter.