‘Did the Guptas know they were going to be trending?’

They’ve been accused of a planning a capture of the state. On Thursday‚ there was a suggestion that they could be blamed for the rainy weather that caused chaos in large parts of the country.

Following a report in the Financial Times newspaper that said the politically connected Gupta family last year met with deputy finance minister‚ Mcebisi Jonas‚ to ask him if he wanted to become minister‚ the question “Did the Guptas…?” trended on Twitter in South Africa.

#AddictedToBlack ‏@BiyelaSthe weighed in on the weather: “Did the Guptas pray for rain? Its raining in SA”.

braSbu ‏@bra_sbu lamented the AmaKhosi’s 2-0 loss to Platinum Stars on Wednesday night: “Did the Guptas hire Steve khompela for Chiefs?”

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Some‚ like Zesus ‏@Zingisile1‚ seemed more interested in cellphone connections rather than political connections: “Did the Guptas made MTN the worst mobile service provider?”‚ as did Marshall Mathers ‏@kay_mahapa “Did the Guptas influence Vodacom to molest us via data charges”.

The Economic Freedom Fighters‚ whose leader Julius Malema coined “#ZuptasMustFall” and said President Jacob Zuma had “sold the country for a plate of curry”‚ were referenced by a number of Twitter users.

Sbu Mnyandu ‏@IamSG_SA asked: “Did the Guptas know that the curry was not that spice”‚ while #BackTheBucs ‏@CorruptBrainiii asked: “Did the Guptas refuse to pay Malema's SARS debt‚ that is why his out to get them?”

Curiousity Locksmith ‏@CuriousityLocks felt fit to mention Malema’s deputy Floyd Shivambu partnity problems: “Did the Guptas send the EFF MP not to pay his child maintenance?”

#RegisterToVote ‏@Dmabony didn’t seem concerned about the country being sold‚ but rather about the dividends due: “Did the Guptas buy South Africa? How much they paid? I want my share...”

Sbu Mnyandu ‏@IamSG_SA’s question went to the hashtag of the matter and wanted to know: “Did the Guptas know that they where going to be trending this morning”?

The Financial Times reported that after Jonas apparently turned down the Guptas‚ Zuma stunned the nation by firing Nhlanhla Nene and replacing him with the little-known Des van Rooyen.

After serious economic damage was wrought by this decision‚ Zuma was forced to back down and replace Van Rooyen after three days in office with Pravin Gordhan.