President Robert Mugabe’s fall at Harare International Airport on Wednesday has attracted so much social media attention that it became a trending topic on Twitter in Zimbabwe, Namibia, South Africa, Kenya, Uganda and Tunisia
According to Trendmaps, an application that maps Twitter trends around the world, the topics Mugabefalls, Mugabe and Uncle Bob have been trending since Wednesday night.
Mugabe’s fall has overshadowed naturally topical issues like The Africa Cup of Nations Soccer tournament currently underway in Equatorial Guinea, the Boko Haram attacks in Nigeria and the Ebola disease outbreak.
The soon-to-be 91 year old Mugabe fell while stepping down the podium after addressing hundreds of his supporters on his return from Ethiopia where he was elected chairperson of the African Union.
Journalists, Zanu PF supporters and citizen writers captured the incident on camera.
Attempts by state security agents to stifle the distribution of the images by forcing some journalists and individuals to erase their devices were in vain as a few hours later, social media was flooded with photos of the incident.
