South Africans generated more than 50 000 search queries for “Vatiswa Ndara” on Monday and a further 10 000 search queries for “Vatiswa Ndara letter” on Tuesday as her 6-page open letter to South Africa’s Minister of Arts and Culture, Nathi Mthethwa, made the rounds.
In the letter, Ndara (who stars in the popular TV drama iGazi) spelt out her grievances against local independent production house, Ferguson Films. She further called on the minister to look into allegations of unfair contracts, poor remuneration, unfair treatment by producers, bullying and even intimidation within the South African entertainment industry.
In other top searches on Google this week, “Teachers Day” picked up more than 200 000 search queries on Sunday as the UN commemorated the role of teachers around the globe.
“Typhoon Japan” garnered more than 5 000 searches on Thursday morning, as the Asian island braced for super typhoon Hagibis set to make landfall on Saturday. Due to impending storms, Rugby World Cup organisers preemptively cancelled two matches: England vs France and New Zealand vs Italy.
On Wednesday, South African gaming fans generated more than 10 000 search queries for “PlayStation 5” after Sony confirmed that the console would launch in time for the 2020 holiday season.
Over the weekend, “Big Brother Naija” garnered more than 5 000 search queries following the Nigerian reality show’s announcement of a winner. 26-year-old Mercy walked away with $650 000.
Search trends information is gleaned from data collated by Google based on what South Africans have been searching for and asking Google. Google processes more than 40 000 search queries every second. This translates to more than a billion searches per day and 1.2 trillion searches per year, worldwide.
