#FeesMustFall protests break the internet
#FeesMustFall has become the most tweeted hashtag in South Africa.
|||Durban - The #FeesMustFall campaign broke the internet this week, with statistics showing that it was the most tweeted hashtag in South Africa, second after Nelson Mandela’s death.
On Friday morning there were more than 140 000 tweets over-night with the hashtag #FeesMustFall and #NationalShutDown.
As students prepared for their march to the Union Buildings in Pretoria on Friday, there were 300 tweets per minute being sent out.
Students used their social media platforms to mobilise support, as well as to discuss and report on the protests.
The campaign was so powerful that mobile networks offered a free data service to students so they could tweet and share their experiences live from the protest outside the Union Buildings.
But that’s not all. Those who wanted to support the cause also had the option to donate data to protesters through their mobile devices using their Google accounts and banking apps.
The campaign also spread rapidly to other parts of the world as students pledged their support from universities across the globe. They posted pictures of themselves with signs depicting the #FeesMustFall campaign.
Two women who became the poster girls for the #FeesMustFall campaign are outgoing Wits University Student Representative Council (SRC) leader, Shaeera Kalla, and incoming president Nompendulo Mkhatshwa.
Both women led the march to the Union Buildings.
Many took to social media to applaud them for their efforts, saying they were an inspiration to other South African women.
On Saturday, Kalla posted a message on her Facebook account which immediately went viral, saying that “it was not over”.
Her post read: “The government has addressed 0%. Let it be known that we are not satisfied with this. We are still waiting to be addressed on ending outsourcing at universities and on free education.
“There is a reason why we took a decision not to go up to the meeting with the president on Saturday; because these issues are non negotiable; they are critical in taking back, frankly reclaiming and decolonising our universities which are microcosms of society. Our demands were very clear, there was no reason to discuss them over tea!”
She said: “Comrades when the police came to meet us on the picket lines we must never forget they were just taking orders, we are fighting for their children too! Comrades you can’t drive a knife into a man’s back 9 inches – take it out 6 inches and then call it progress. These are the words of Malcolm X and this is how our universities operate. They have been systematically stabbing us for far too long. A luta continua! (The struggle goes on).”
She said students met on Saturday to restrategise.
nabeelah.shaikh@inl.co.za
Sunday Tribune
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