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Cape Town - Politics has trumped sports in March as South Africans “googled” information on the Gupta saga.
Google South Africa revealed that a search cluster related to Mcebisi Jonas, the Gupta family and President Jacob Zuma featured 13 search terms including “Gupta”, “Mcebisi Jonas”, “Jacob Zuma”, “ANC”, “Barbara Hogan”, and “Duduzane Zuma”.
Media reports in March indicated that deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas was offered the job of minister by the Gupta family. The Guptas, close to President Jacob Zuma, denied the allegation.
READ: Guptas: We never met Mcebisi Jonas
Following the African National Congress’ National Executive Committee meeting from March 18 – 20, the party rejected any attempt to influence government.
Meanwhile, the Brussels attacks on March 22 drew 17 search terms with South Africans searching for “Brussels”, “Brussels bombing”, “Brussels airport bomb”, “where is Brussels”, “ISIS” and “Brussels explosion”.
The attacks killed 32 people and 94 remain in hospital.
READ: Brussels airport delays reopening as Belgium lowers attacks toll to 32
Searches for astronomer Caroline Herschel spiked on March 16 when the daily Google Doodle marked her birthday and Miss South Africa, the Holi festival and Kim Kardashian also garnered attention from locals.
However, sport featured strongly with searches for “Orlando Pirates”, “Nedbank Cup”, “Chiefs vs Pirates” among popular search searches.
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