Twitter Counterperformance and Affective Publics in the 2023 South African State of the Nation Address

This article examines how South African Twitter users engaged with the 2023 State of the Nation Address (SONA), treating the event as both a symbolic performance of state authority and a discursive site of public contestation. Drawing on performance theory, the concept of affective publics, and counter-performance, the study analyzes tweets posted in the days leading up to and on the day of the SONA. Using a mixed methods approach combining sentiment analysis, thematic mapping, and interpretive discourse analysis, the article explores how digital publics anticipated, emotionally reframed, and critically engaged with the President's speech. Findings show that energy (loadshedding) emerged as the most emotionally charged theme, provoking anger, irony, resignation, and cautious optimism. Rather than passively consuming the performance, Twitter users enacted affective counterperformances that questioned the coherence of state narratives and re-scripted the meaning of the SONA. These reactions reflected broader concerns about political legitimacy, governance performance, and public trust that characterized South Africa's political environment during this period. By analyzing emotionally saturated digital responses to state ritual, the study contributes to research on digital political communication, affective publics, and symbolic power. It expands the geographic and theoretical scope of performance studies by centering African political discourse and digital counter-publics.