This follows Twitter handles that were fed into a tool Time Magazine used to measure the reading level or readability of tweets in America.
According to the magazine, the English in an average tweet on Twitter is at the level of fourth grade English in the American schooling system.
The equivalent to the American fourth grade English level in South Africa almost that of Grade 4 English.
In South Africa, the ANC won the war as literate giants. The general ANC feed, @MyANC_ scored a 10th Grade reading level, while @PresidencyZA, the account linked to President Jacob Zuma scored an 11th Grade reading level. It is important to note that tweets from the Presidency are not from Zuma, but usually from his staffers.
The EFF also fared well, with their general feed @EconFreedomZA scoring a seventh grade reading level. Party leader Julius Malema also scored a seventh grade reading level. When Time magazine measured the reading level of well-known public Twitter accounts, American president Barrack Obama also scored a seventh grade reading level.
Party leader for the DA, Helen Zille scored a sixth grade reading level. The general feed for the DA (@DA_news) scored a seventh grade reading level. This made the party the lowest scoring among the three biggest political parties in South Africa when taking results from the online tool.
These reading levels, however can be considered somewhat arbitrary, since it is based on the use of American English, rather that the British standard used in South Africa. The same goes for all parties and their continued use of different South African languages, which could contribute to a lower score.
At the very least South African political leaders are on the same (or better) reading level as Obama.
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