SA parties go online
South Africa’s political parties are becoming Internet-savvy following a successful online campaign by United States president-elect Barack Obama.
While most of the country’s major political role players have official Internet sites, they are realising its potential as a means of gathering support, fundraising and for communication purposes.
Obama set new records in his US presidential campaign when he raised more than 600 million, with nearly 200m of that being raised online.
He has also been lauded for his use of social networking sites to mobilise support among the youth, a market that had traditionally not shown interest in politics.
Chief information officer for the Congress of the People (Cope) JJ Tabane said they considered the Internet an important marketing tool for the party.
“We take it exceptionally seriously as it allows us to communicate with a wide audience in a cost-effective manner.”
Cope’s official site allows browsers to join the party, make a donation or catch up on the latest party news. “Our strategy is an integrated one . We want to reach out, recruit, communicate and encourage our members to help out where they can.”
The party has also seen value in extending its marketing drive to social networking site Facebook, where several of its leaders, including president Mosioua Lekota and communications head Phillip Dexter have online profiles.
Cope also recently declared Facebook a region for votes and the page was represented by 50 delegates at the party’s inaugural national conference in Bloemfontein.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) is also looking at innovative ways to use the Internet. “We see it as an important tool to sign up new members, provide information and communicate policies to our supporters,” said DA Eastern Cape IT head John Cupido.
The official DA website is easy to navigate and also has an option where supporters can join online or make donations.
The party was also using Facebook to great effect and leader Helen Zille has a fan page with 4600 supporters, while the DA group has garnered some 10000 members to date. Cupido said DA public representatives were encouraged to get online and join sites such as Facebook.
“The great thing is that it allows for instant communication as many of our public representatives publish the latest press releases, which supporters can then discuss and debate,” he said.
Cupido said the Internet had also let the party get in touch with a larger contact base than if it had followed traditional means.
Efforts to contact the African National Congress (ANC) for its views on the Internet were not successful.
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