In the past politicians would go after voters with rah-rah rallies and door-to-door campaigns. But those tired tactics aren’t likely to excite a generation plugged into MXit and who take their internet fix anywhere they can get it.
Local political parties are pulling out all the stops with everything from SMS campaigns and Facebook sites to car rallies and lavish, catered parties, complete with cigars and high-end whisky on tap.
Although attracting the youth in person — and having them signed up on paper — is the ultimate goal, it is technology that engages the digital generation.
Taking a cue from Barack Obama’s wildly successful youth campaign, the Congress of the People (Cope) was the first party in South Africa to recruit young people on the social network forum Facebook. A delegation representing the group was even at its inaugural conference.
Text messages and emails were used to canvass support in the two months before the party was officially launched, attracting an impressive number of young people who volunteered to get the party off the ground.
Many others signed up for Cope online — those young people who prefer to join a party at the click of a mouse instead of filling in forms and having to post or deliver them to the nearest party offices.
“I was drawn into the Cope movement because of their web presence,” Cope member Colyn Serfontein wrote on the group’s Facebook site. “The beauty of the web community is that you do not need to fly or drive anywhere to interact with us … you only need to make a simple post.”
Cope even has a page on YouTube, which runs video clips of its events. The discussion boards on both sites allow members to discuss any issue that affects the party or the country. And those online sessions offer up a virtual goody bag of political intelligence. Information gathered from the sites is documented and presented to formal leadership meetings, allowing them to understand their potential supporters better, according to Sipho Nghona, national spokesperson for the Cope Youth Movement.
The ANC Youth League is also getting into the online action. It recently launched the “my ANC” internet site — www.myanc.org.za — so its constituency can participate in discussion forums.
But it’s not just online electioneering that is shifting. Cope has introduced new types of social events, minus the long political speeches.
“We talk about broader social issues, not politics, so that anyone can speak freely without feeling any pressure,” said Nghona.
Signature Cope socials are its car washes/car rallies/braai combinations. All cars converge in one spot where Cope members set up tables with membership forms and party documents. While the cars are being washed — for Cope donations, of course — young people are assisted in filling in their membership forms.
After the cars are cleaned and Cope-stickered, the cars form a motorcade and cruise through the nearest township.
“It raises a lot of interest and onlookers join the convoy. Then we stop at another point, set up the tables again, people join and we have an afterparty,” Nghona said.
“Some guys volunteer to cook so we can save money that could have been paid to a catering company.”
The ANC Youth League has taken a different approach. Young people from the league’s leadership structures recently hosted a slick party complete with cigars and Johnny Walker Gold, catered food and entertainment.
At one recent party in Fourways, an ANC election campaign music CD was distributed to every guest and the entertainer — a local comedian — reminded guests why they were there in the first place.
“We all know who to vote for,” the comedian told the raucous crowd. “We’re not confused.”
Well. Even if we are ushering in new ways of getting voters, looks like it’s still politics as usual.