South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has just appointed the fifth Finance Minister in the last 3 years, Tito Mboweni. Mboweni is a relatable character in the South African community, not known for living an extravagant life but instead one as a commoner, regularly posting pictures on social media of his meals he has eaten and the wildlife and landscape he tends to as a farmer.
Despite South Africa being one of the wealthiest countries in Africa in terms of GDP and GDP per capita, the South African Economy has prevalent economic issues including the national retirement fund and expropriation of private land without compensation, which has not put the government in the best terms with its constituents, especially the position of finance minister. Mboweni was even joking on social media posting a picture with the caption: “I had lunch with this landlord in Makgobaskloof. I told him that we will expropriate his farm without compensation! You should have seen the look on his face! et tu Governor!!”
Social media has certainly seen a rise in the influence of politics in recent years. In the 2016 election, Donald Trump used Twitter to relate to the common American, helping him secure the presidential election. Even reports that he deliberately inserted grammatical errors into his tweets to more closely relate to the average American. Perhaps Mboweni’s relatable social media activity will help him sway the public opinion of the financial sector of the government and help improve communication between the government and it’s people.
That change will more likely occur through the new economic trade agreement named the CFTA. The African Continental Free Trade Area is a free trade agreement between all 55 African countries and would, if ratified, be the largest free trade agreement in terms of participating countries since the formation of the World Trade Organization in 1995. This agreement would influence African countries to import goods from other African countries, hopefully boosting a stagnant African economy.