The rise of Malema: By Google

JOHANNESBURG - The fluctuating fortunes of prominent South African politicians are being tracked by and reflected on Google. The trends function on the website traces the changing search patterns on the web. These show, for instance, the emergence of Julius Malema from obscurity with his election as ANC Youth League President. With each controversy interest in Malema has peaked, and the latest revelations about his great tenderpreneurial abilities have led to a huge spike in searches using the keyword "Malema".

The ups and downs of Jacob Zuma's struggle for power, and against the law, are also reflected in searches using the keyword "Zuma" within South Africa. There was a spike of interest following his sacking as deputy president in 2005, another spike during his rape trial, a spike on his victory at Polokwane, and so on.

If Google keyword searches document the fall and rise of Zuma, they also document the decline into insignificance of Thabo Mbeki. Mbeki's loss of power at Polokwane in December 2007, and his support for Mugabe in the 2008 Zimbabwe crisis, were all reflected in heightened interest on the web. However, following a massive death spike - on his recall as SA president - interest in the former president has waned considerably.

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Just watch this space Malema is coming, just get ready. I'm patiently waiting for a president who is not afraid to speak. Media can't put a good man down, you are the next big thing. This shows how important he is to this country. Otherwise why would people search for a . .more useless person? Keep coming juju we are patiently waiting. . .less by Collen on March 04 2010, 22:29 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Thanks Yes, they can't put the good man down. I love this guy a lot. Everytime he speaks I make sure am glued to the tv. Malema you have openned our eyes(some of us). Now we can see why white people hate you its because you speak your mind and nothing but truth. . .more White people don't want to see black people successful. They always take us for granted. Thanks Mr Malema, you are a next big thinng to happen to South Africans like me! . .less by Anonymous** on March 04 2010, 22:55 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

re: @Collen Please explain why it is you state that Malema is a good man? It is far from Self-Evident. In fact from where I am all I see is a rabble rouser, an ignoramus who would sooner see the country ablaze than seek a progressive path forward towards the . .more alleviation of all the ills of our society and country. Don't make such absurd statements and assume your view is universal. state the reasons why you make the statement that he is a 'good man'. . .less by Ekenj on March 05 2010, 00:23 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@Anonymous I doubt whether 'white people' hate Malema, he irritates everybody who has functioning and functional grey matter between their ears is probably more pithy an observation. Don't assume to know the emotional state of all 'white people' just because of your . .more undifferentiated personal projections. . .less by Ekenj on March 05 2010, 00:27 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

(hic*) Malema (Hic*) http://samvak.tripod.com/15.html Read this link. Honestly , we don't need another Narcissist leader by Psychiatric intervention on March 05 2010, 01:54 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@Anonymous Hi Anonymous, I'm a white man and I want to see black people succeed. In fact, I want to see everybody in this country succeed. And I'm sure that you also want to see everybody in this country succeed, especially white people, unless you are an utter . .more racist who stereoptypes white people acording to your own self serving racist agenda. Go figure! . .less by Whiteman on March 05 2010, 05:35 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

malema be very carefull what you want malema is the next mugabe by ivan on March 05 2010, 07:14 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Die antwoord go and overlay the search with the new zef rap band called "die antwoord" and you will see they are way more popular than Malema, so who is tops? http://www.google.com/insights/search/#q=julius%20malema%2Cdie%20antwoord&cmpt=q by Jack Parrow on March 05 2010, 07:28 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Malema and SARS Malema has assets wortj millions yet apparently does not pay enough tax on his millions. Cant wait for the day SARs siezes his assets and throws the chop into jail ! by TaxPayer on March 05 2010, 07:43 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

ONE MALEMA ONE BULLET !! You have to face it, the little monkey has appealing charisma to the uneducated masses, however fear not - he is just good for selling newspaper. by ronty on March 05 2010, 07:49 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Mallie This Pompous fat trough feeder will self implode at some point. Imagine a country with JZ as Prez and Mallie in line to "take over". Any idiot who supports this half human needs serious help . Africa is Foo Ked --period. by George Witou on March 05 2010, 07:54 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Google Tracking Statistics Could these statistics be a reflection of how the general public are gradually starting to take the threats of corrupt politicians and govenment officials seriously? If so, well done South Africa! The only thing left is to find a way to get these corrupt . .more individuals fired and sent back to the shrine situated in the sea off the southern tip of SA. . .less by Zorba on March 05 2010, 08:40 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

investigate SARS should close Malema in as soon as possible and do the cap recon, to clear the harmful perception that he is above the law. By the way he is not opposed to the investigation as he has intimated before. Even the president of the country did oblige to . .more the tax authorities. The public is anxiously awaiting an extensive investigation on the beneficiaries of the tender system. The public also expects a lot of assessments on donations tax and stc. . .less by passrsby on March 05 2010, 08:46 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

The Media has created this monster For Politicians all publicity is good publicity. Stop reporting on the goon for 6 months and everyone will forget who he is. Try it! by Fred on March 05 2010, 08:47 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Wonder how much dirt he has on the ANC That they let him spout off day by day. @Ivan you are wrong he is not Africa's next Bob he is Africa's next Idi Amin. by Fred on March 05 2010, 08:52 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

one bullet did you mean lots of bullsh..t? by jacko on March 05 2010, 09:00 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Whites like success. Blacks hate it By all accounts blacks hate to see another black person doing well. And it gets worse when that black person comes to South Africa from another African country. Do you see whites burnig the homes and businesses of whites or blacks from . .more other countries? No. The issue of Malema is that he makes us look like Africa 1961 backward and stupid. So now let us all wait and see if the majority want that. . .less by Nationless on March 05 2010, 10:28 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

JUNjus U r really opportunist - i can't live here without saying u r greedy and so greedy by L Mashele on March 05 2010, 10:35 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

MALEMA - STILL AN PDI AND BLACK Gents, sorry to through a spanner in the wheel. Doesn't matter what Malema does, say or achieves. He is still black. Poor thing. Any person who wishes to nationalize the SA mines, doesn't have any intellectual savvy. Look at the rest of Africa and ask . .more yourself why is it that only SA is developed with infrastructure, buildings, roads, stadiums, work etc. Its because (sorry to say), most black people cannot manage and SA had a white government most of its existence. A government's main task is to manage a country. Unfortunately we are in the same situation, with a black government who is fraudulent (and gets away with it), which cannot plan and manage. MALEMA, the wheel turns. You will be caught you empty tin. . .less by Dlamini (who wishes to be white) on March 05 2010, 10:40 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

the truth behind the stats A great number of bored web surfers use search words like Po#s , T*** and C#nt. By default (and to their great disappointment) they get Juju which explains the surge in statistical popularity. by Mirth on March 05 2010, 11:42 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@Collen Are you a fake brother boy, number one search is for porn and (which is pretty USELESS like you) - oh wait all that is useful for IS malema cuase you never see him with a women. LMFAO. by Fake Boy on March 05 2010, 11:54 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

a relook at the stats Graphs can be deceiving - here one graph with malema, jacob zuma, thabo mbeki and mandela for searches worldwide: http://www.google.co.za/trends?q=malema%2C jacob zuma%2C thabo mbeki%2C nelson mandela&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all&sort=1 Worldwide Mandela . .more persists in search volume. Malema does not even feature. Narrowing down for searches within South Africa and only for the last 12 months, Malema is indeed spiking, but large spikes also occured for 'Zuma' and 'Mandela' earlier this year. For Malema, over this 12 month "time of prominence" search volumes are still much less than for Mandela and Zuma. In summary, no convincing evidence of Malema's rise to me! . .less by africaeconomist on March 05 2010, 12:13 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Google "Malema dead" now to start Google's trend function. In a few years this phrase will have the most hits. by Farsood Pillay on March 05 2010, 12:30 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Is Julius one of JZ's not so b@rstad son's? Julius had his 29th Birthday this week. FACT. ANC - Mandela was 20 years ago. So by simple internationl maths Julius was a 9 year old at the change of Govt. Why has he been FAVoured with the millions of Rands, Cars, Amarni suits, Gold . .more Watches and Blue label Whisky??? Who is he related too? Or is he a stooge for the ANC's ill gotten gains? Why are the true struggle heros that were beaten and jailed for the struggle and who actually fought in the war still sting starving and in Rags????Is it because they are they not part of the "special family"? . .less by JZ's son - Julius on March 05 2010, 13:22 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Malema is running the country so what? Did you expect a decent fair reasonable competent person? Get with it this is Africa. They did not even have the wheel when the colonialists arrived to exploit them. How can you deal with a funny chap like Zuma their leader who has apparently been married . .more 5 times, has between 20 and some say 35 kids, has extra marital sex, has extra marital unprotected sex, has extra marital unprotected sex with someone he knew had aids, apparently thinks a shower after sex will prevent aids, was once up for fraud and corruption but the charges went away without a court of law, has had a few illegitimate children, calls for a machine gun, dances and sings, wears leopard skins, is head of a political party that wins first prize mostly for failed education failed policing failed healthcare failed housing and is one of the to scorers in the world for murders crime corruption rape aids. And they say this is normal behaiour "it is my culture". Geez forget it man Africa is doomed. . .less by Evolution on March 05 2010, 13:40 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

malema show them what is true white comunity does not want to except that south africa is leberated they think that they can dominate other race groups they are still full of hate by joe on March 05 2010, 14:08 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

winnie winnie has showed her tallons.she will grind malema under her foot when she takes over the top job soon. by jambo on March 05 2010, 14:12 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Julius the fool Julius may very well become our Mugabe. There is something in the Black culture which allows and applauds corruption and despotism. It is amost as if the Blacks have arrived. They allow their politicians a lot of leeway. They never question the fact . .more that they (the populace) remain poor while their "freedom fighters" enrich themselves. There's almost a certain amount of pride that Julius wears a R250 thousand rand watch while the lemmings don't have a loaf of bread. But it's good - because one of their own came good, even if it was at their own expense. Shame, shame, shame. Adio Africa. . .less by Adio africa on March 05 2010, 15:11 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@ Anonymous Not much of amind to open up I hear ala 'G' in woodwork on the lower grade by Back to school is cool on March 05 2010, 15:34 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Bufoona Bamedia Yey to the media. Scoring own goals every day. They are utterly convinced that they can effect public opinion. A few problems though. Firstly the media is no longer has a monopoly on information. Secondly the public does not think like them. Why should . .more they in the first instance? Thirdly we have a real domocracy. You can't hold the keys to opinion and also have vibrant free speech. In South Africa there is scant evididence that the media has any real influence at all. I wonder why? Anything to do with three hundred years of lies and deceit focusing on upholding a few corrupt racists? Mmm. The media is not in control inspite of their delusions to the contrary. All they are doing is batting for their opponents. - The only possiblity of rational behaviour by the media is that they have an agenda to destroy the country. As a contrarian that would make perfect sense . .less by View on March 05 2010, 15:43 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@ Bufoona Bamedia Seriously, how can you say the media has no effect on public opinion? This piece affected you enough to post a comment!!! You must be another EDUCATED supporter... by Ryan D on March 05 2010, 16:15 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@joe I think the word you are looking for is "liberated". The reason why white people dominate the planet and other race groups is because they place a lot of importance on intelligent persuits. Africa and Africans need to stop going around the same old tired . .more rhetoric about liberation from colonialism and seriously start to look forward instead of constantly dwelling in the past. The whites globally are surging ahead with their technologies and face stiff competition from the Oriental nations which of course is welcome. You have it all wrong my friend , the white people are not full of hate , just frustrated at constantly dealing with an underperforming , undereducated , misbehaved African child. South Africa has the potential to become a world power , but in order to do that the black nations need to culturally grow up. Yes that means that wearing animal skins and having 5 wives is not acceptable in this day and age, and just like white people changed their culture and stopped burning people at the stake , you need to evolve your culture too and catch up with the rest of the world because you are threatening to become the equivalent of a chimp if you fall any futher behind ....... Time for acting like spoilt children is over , come join us Whites and Orientals and Indians in the real world. . .less by Educated White on March 05 2010, 16:30 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Enough! Hi, My name is Julius. The M, in the middle stands for the Man. I would like to dispel ALL the fears that many of you out the'a hev about me... Fest of all, I do have an education so do not call me a stupid man! Secondly, do you know . .more where my name comes from? Julius Cesar! Like the salad! My idol, my mentor. All of you are trying to be my Brutus! Footsek wena. When I am president of South Africa, I will make sure that each and every one of you, are rewa'dead. Jus look at my benk account climb... just like my popularity. Eish, i should be on Twitta! OVA Robert is my friend. He has e lot to teach us! . .less by Julius M. Malema on March 05 2010, 17:00 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Rise of Julius Malema @Joe It worries me that the infrastructure built by Mr Malema's company is so bad that it has to be re-built. A bridge collapsed, paving breaking up, see the press photos. Payments were made to his company for untested work. No-one should pay for . .more goods which do not comply with specificqations. There must be quality control before payments are made. It appears that unqualified people are being used to mismanage the peoples money. Service delivery is only a dream if this is the best we can do. Mr Malema cannot be a leader while his actions are directed to self-enrichment rather than to the the well-being of the people. Black and White (their numbers are declining rapidly) must find a new way to work together for South Africa to become a truly successful country. Joe I am hopeful. People of goodwill will find a way. Mr Malema's way is certainly not the right way. I love our Country and will do my best for it. Regards Chas . .less by Chas on March 05 2010, 17:05 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

cough cough what happened to the raindow nation. seriously forget about stupid skin colours we are after all all South Africans we need to work together other wise we're never going to get anywhere. by both on March 05 2010, 17:50 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@Collen "...why would people search for a . .more useless person? Same reason as they search for Paris Hilton, though to be fair to Paris she's of lot more use to humanity than JuJu. At least she's decorative, though perhaps not Zuma's taste in . .more women. So they waited for Godot, too. Maybe you should wait for the Second Coming. The only time JuJu is going to come is when he's pleasuring himself. . .less by Jeff on March 05 2010, 18:35 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@Joe "...white comunity does not want to except that south africa is leberated they think that they can dominate other race groups they are still full of hate." Another product of OBE or Bantu Education by Jeff on March 05 2010, 18:47 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Malema Understand the law in RSA . Do not compare our law to a major civilised society .Do not critisise the man until proven guilty, not that this would mean anything He is the boss of at least 25m people Even if he isconvicted of any wrong ,doing . .more accept it, he cannot be convicted of any wrong doing .He is in the league of our president who did not have a chance o fdefending himself even though all evidence in the Shaik trial pointed to receipt of a chop .Julius is a nice chap Accept it . .less by accept on March 05 2010, 20:23 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@Educated White No, Educated White, Joe and millions of South Africans were leberated, as one can experience every day. Unfortunately Non-Blacks are simply not yet coping with the fact that so many of your fellow countrymen are malemoids. by Klaus in RSA on March 05 2010, 22:24 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

This souldn't be about race! People for how many decades has the poor, uneducated people been unrepresented? now that someone finally thought of standing up for them you complain, if you think critically about the matter in hand Malema is acting on behalf of all lower class, . .more uneducated people but the well off people respond by criticising his ideas, why? if you really want the answer to that read Domhoff's text book called "VALUE WARS". This is not about race anymore but more about the capitalist system and ownership of property and money, the rich do not want to share therefore will do anything to prevent any leader who advocate for sharing from coming to power!!!!!!! . .less by Lipton on March 06 2010, 12:13 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Malema is another child of Zuma? Is the post above true or false? It is interesting as no one in their right mind other than a mother or father would be proud of a child like Julius and also let him carry on as he does without censure. An interesting thought as the UK Press or someone . .more reportedly claimed Zuma had 35 children. gosh can this be true mind you 20 odd is horrifying enough. It gets seemingly worse every day, this ANC circus of failure and poor morals. All another sad sad African joke. . .less by Piet Pompies on March 06 2010, 14:01 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@Piet it is people like you who can drive an intelligent black person to vote for JZ & JM. racist/ignorant comments make us belive its all a matter of black and white. the fear of the past repeating itself will always drive us to vote for this organization. . .more when YOUR attitudes change, so will the votes. i am no JZ fan, but to question the number of children he has is not your business. the man is being judged by western standards. i call you ignorant because you have commented on something you know little about. in Rural natal, enkandla, it is ok for a man to have 45 children. president or not! . .less by DK on March 06 2010, 15:57 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Malema the bullshiner On nationalisation of the mines, Jeremy Cronin said that the the only guys wanting them to be nationalised,and be paid out are the same guys that are losing money mining. From a commie, thats a very good observation and is probably 100% correct. Malema . .more misses this point, but probably has pals in the game. A second point: Malema claims to have joined the revolution to fight for empowerment and financial upliftment of the masses. He must have been younger than nine years old when he did, because at that point the revolution was OVER. We have just celebrated 20 years of Mandela's freedom. Of course his adoring masses can't see through him and realise he's a prime bulls...er. . .less by Garforth on March 06 2010, 20:35 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@DK Prior to the Dutch coming to SA, the Zulu or any other tribe locally did not own property or wives. The ownership of women and more than one was adopted from the Dutch. So don't go quoting ancestral heritage and rights based on current . .more practices. Oh and white people used to own slaves and black people used to pick cotton. Should we bring that back cos it was our cultural heritage too? . .less by Fred on March 08 2010, 13:01 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

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