‘Twitter being used to fuel anger against foreign nationals’
mwangi.githahuinl.co.za
SOUTH Africans on social media, in particular Twitter, are being manipulated into supporting artificially amplified anger against foreigners living in the country, according to researchers at the University of Cape Town (UCT).
In their report, analysts from the Centre for Analytics and Behavioural Change (CABC) at UCT’s Graduate School of Business, said: “Key narratives around xenophobia are being curated and amplified by a dedicated network of connected users.”
“The hashtag, #PutSouthAfricaFirst emerged on April 27 and in one day was used more than 16 000 times. The 80 accounts in the network around uLerato_Pillay were responsible for 50% of the use of the hashtag. This is not organic growth of a conversation but rather an organised network,” said the report.
“These underground networks have sown social discord on South African social media platforms, mainly Twitter. The network was closely tracked online from April 1 to May 31 this year to identify patterns and tactics used on social media to artificially promote resentment of Africans working and living in South Africa,” said the report.
Director of the dialogue facilitation team at the CABC, Stef Snel, said: “They are using fake social media accounts and tactics that resemble social media guns-for-hire. A key agitator is a Twitter account by the name of uLerato_Pillay with several variations of the name. This account is the public face of the network pushing the hashtag, which itself has several variations.
“My biggest fear is that such rhetoric in the past has resulted in violence and death. It’s critically important to uncover this network and get to the bottom of who may be behind the hidden hand sowing such discontent,” said Snel.
A post-doctoral fellow in the department of political studies at the University of Western Cape, Shingai Mutizwa-Mangiza, believes there is great significance in that the hashtag suddenly began trending on April 27.
“The start date was Freedom Day. That is a nationalist event and I don’t think it was accidental that so many of the accounts were activated on that day. It was a deliberate calculated move,” said Mutizwa-Mangiza.
“On the other hand this sort of thing happens often in a time of great economic difficulty. We tend to want to find a scapegoat and the people scapegoated are those on the margins of mainstream society. Look at 1920s Germany and the Weimar republic, see what happened in Rwanda in 1994 where the Tutsi who already disenfranchised were targeted,” said Mutizwa-Mangiza.
“In situations such as these, we see the rise of frustrations and an attempt to re-channel popular anger away from areas where it may have been directed. So for instance people were angry with the lockdown bans on alcohol and tobacco and such a campaign tends to re-channel this anger to diffuse one set of tensions while creating another,” said Mutizwa-Mangiza.
Political analyst Ntsikelelo Breakfast said: “South Africa has always had a notion of exceptionalism. When someone comes here from the continent we say, ‘You are from Africa, as if we ourselves are not from the continent.’
“I have never lived as a foreign national abroad, but I guess if you are such a person, you work much harder to succeed and such success brings with it elements of jealousy. However, it’s a complex issue and there are no clear black and white areas. Also, xenophobia is not unique to South Africa,” said Breakfast.
An activist with the rights group Abahlali baseMjondolo, Mqapheli Bonono, said the people behind the tweets need to be exposed.
“We are concerned with some of the organised groups who are being xenophobic. They need to be exposed and shamed for this senseless behaviour.
“We condemn any act of discrimination wherever it comes from,” said Bonono.