2015 was a watershed year in South Africa, and not just because we had watershedding. Twitter has revealed the top trending hashtags for 2015, and we look at the top tags in the news category.
Fees Must Fall - #FeesMustFall
Students demanding free tertiary education rocked the world news this year - as they stormed parliament and forced President Jacob Zuma to declare no increase in university fees.
Blade Nzimande, the minister in charge of tertiary education, opposed the students' demands.
"You can't have free higher education for everyone in a capitalist society," Nzimande said. "That would be saying that as I, as a minister, government must pay for my child... I must pay for it myself because I can afford it."
Germany meanwhile offers free tuition to all European and International students. France and Malta offer free tertiary education for Europeans, while Scotland offers free education for all Scottish students.
SONA2015 - #SONA2015
You know State of the Nation is a bit George Koch when #bringbackthesignal beat #PayBackTheMoney. This year hasn't been a kind one to the ruling party in general, but when the hunt for the signal jammer (Which some speculated was hidden in a certain opposition politician's hair) came so early, it wasn't exactly a good sign.
NationalShutdown - #NationalShutdown
The student protests that erupted this year were only the beginning of our national unrest. Even Parliament went on strike, resulting in police checks to make sure the people who were coming to work in Parliament, weren't strikers who normally worked there.
AskMmusi - #AskMmusi
Mmusi Maimane decided to ask twitter to ask him some questions. The results speak for themselves.
Loadshedding - #Loadshedding
It was a cold beginning to the year - as Eskom struggled to keep the lights on. We could say more about this, but throwing shade doesn't work that well in the dark.
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