Wilson Johwa
11 November 2008
Johannesburg — INSPIRED by Barack Obama's successful presidential campaign, SA's political parties are dead keen to implement smart strategies that will win them support in next year's election.
Publicists, marketers and strategy consultants are poised to assume more importance than at any other time since the historic 1994 election. In a race where a new entrant raises the stakes for both the African National Congress (ANC) and the opposition, the medium is likely to be as important as the message.
Among those involved with the breakaway party from the ANC is former South African Airways spokesman Onkgopotse JJ Tabane, who ran a similar drive to sell a newly formed Lesotho opposition party ahead of the kingdom's election last year.
"I'm just helping, like all South Africans who are volunteering for the new party to be born," he says of his involvement in the national convention of 10 days ago.
However, his future participation in the proposed Congress of the People, better known by its nickname of Shikota (after the surnames of its leaders Mbhazima Shilowa and Mosiuoa Lekota), is yet to be discussed.
Tabane is now Altron's group executive for corporate affairs .
In his previous post as CEO of public relations company Simeka Communications, Tabane led a campaign to brand and publicise the All Basotho Convention (ABC).
The party was formed in October 2006 when 17 MPs left the dominant Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) of Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili.
Tabane says the ABC's campaign had striking parallels with the bid by Lekota and Shilowa.
Not only did the new party have to get itself off the ground and decide on a name and logo, but it had just a few months to run an election campaign. Moreover, the government called an early election, giving the ABC less than four months to get ready. An early election is also possible in SA.
The ABC won 17 mainly urban seats to the LCD's 61, becoming the third-largest party.
Tabane describes its campaign as successful, although the lack of media penetration and the mountainous terrain were huge difficulties. The campaign hinged on the reputation of former cabinet minister Tom Thabane , the leader of the breakaway. "It was easy to sell him as a leader who means what he says," says Tabane.
His conclusion is that discontentment does not automatically translate into votes.
"It was really a question of how much time you have to reach the whole country," he says.
However, Tabane feels Shikota's advantages compared to Thabane's are SA's large urban population with access to the mass media and cellphones -- already a popular means to reach voters.
Both Lekota and Shilowa are experienced mobilisers. It would be "arrogance on the part of anybody" to assume that the party would not make a strong showing, "but how much ... is a different matter", he says.
Like all parties, Shikota is cagey about divulging its strategy to win supporters ahead of its formal launch next month. But Obama's use of new media to gather support, monitor public opinion as well as raise funds from ordinary people, is a source of inspiration about what an underdog can do.
SA's estimated 35-million cellphone users have prompted an eagerness to implement a strategy to reach this audience.
But ANC spokeswoman Jessie Duarte says her party will rely mainly on its traditional method of door-to-door contact.
Along with the Democratic Alliance (DA), Shikota is more intent on using interactive web tools, including the social network site Facebook, to build a support base. Shilowa already has a Facebook profile that is dominated by a portrait of himself next to his wife, businesswoman Wendy Luhabe.
Writing on his wall, Shilowa proposes the formation of provincial groups to allow for updates and feedback.
"In this way it will also be easy to perhaps grow groups and have your leaders coming to address you in your provinces," he writes.
Marketing analyst Chris Moerdyk ascribes Obama's success to observing the primary rule in marketing, that "it's not what I want to say, but what the consumer wants to hear".
Using new media as well as his gift for oratory, Obama extended his appeal to young people - a group that often stays away from politics.
In SA, about 60% of the population is under 30, and tend to vote along the same identity group as their parents.
Moerdyk says SA is just as ready to embrace new technology.
"A boring political party is just not going to win that many votes," he says.
Communication technology has "almost become de facto mainstream, and for anyone not to use it is going to be foolish", says media analyst Arthur Goldstuck.
Even the text conversation platform MIxit, which has about 7-million users, can be "embraced to great value".
However, Moerdyk says more important than the medium is how the message is packaged.
As in the US, what is likely to affect the elections next year is the celebrity factor, a phenomenon that benefited Nicolas Sarkozy in his quest for the French presidency, and the Italian billionaire prime minister and owner of AC Milan, Silvio Berlusconi.
Moerdyk says ANC president Jacob Zuma also has this celebrity quality.
"It doesn't matter if you are a notorious celebrity, people don't seem to mind if celebrity politicians have a bit of baggage," he says.
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