On the Campaign Trail

Loyalty vs Delivery: Local Government election fever

18 April, 2011

Local government elections are to be held on the 18th May. Once again we the voting public will be serenaded with posters, promises, propositions and propaganda. After four general elections, characterized by personal vilification, will this local government election be any different? Will the parties contesting the election once again engage each other in a battle of invective? Or will we, as the electorate, be enticed by a choice that is more compelling and that makes us reflect on our voting habit. After 16 years of democracy, we have learnt a few things. Do our politicians appreciate this?
Helen Zille in her weekly newsletter had an interesting piece on what some analysts call "political consolidation". "In truth" she says, "establishing a democracy – as we in South Africa know better than most – is a precarious business. Look how many times our own constitutional negotiations stalled over seemingly intractable disagreements, against a backdrop of escalating political violence. There was never any guarantee that we would reach a negotiated democratic settlement. Most often, it seemed as if the odds were stacked against it. Thankfully, in the end, common sense prevailed."

Duduzile Campaigns with her Dad

25 March, 2009

Duduzile, who shot to fame in 2006 when she testified in her father's defence when he faced charges of rape - Zuma was acquitted - this weekend joined ANC Youth League president Julius Malema in speaking at a party rally in Plettenberg Bay at the weekend.

E-voting a Distant Reality

17 March, 2009

According to the IEC, electronic voting is too costly and the absence of paper records in voting and verification systems would result in a complete loss of hundreds or thousands of votes. It says that until it could be verified that e-voting machines are recording votes as intended, and election officials could conduct recounts, SA could not implement electronic voting.

17 March, 2009

The Congress of the People (Cope) on Monday hastily promised to remove from its website so-called "press releases" which were in fact Sapa wire service news reports. The Sapa copy had been plagiarised and edited to reflect Cope's election campaign activities in a positive light. The party reacted within minutes of a lunchtime call from Sapa to lodge a complaint and demand that the illicit content be removed immediately.

12 March, 2009

Political parties gathered at Gallagher estates, Johannesburg, to sign a pledge committing themselves to a peaceful elections campaigning and elections in South Africa. This pledge comes after incidents of violence between opposing political parties, where some political supporters were killed. The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) appealed to political parties to be tolerant and respect each other. The pledge was signed at the time when all political parties were hot on the campaign trail and some took the opportunity to campaign and made use of the platform to lash out at their oppositions.

Democratic Alliance

3 March, 2009

The Democratic Alliance seems to have been able to make better use of technology and social networking tools for their campaign. They have launched their comprehensive digital strategy with online tools such as blogs, facebook groups and twitter. This new form of electioneering using technology allows a way to directly engage with the electorate and DA took it a step further and made use of communicating their policies in IsiZulu.