Mxit group chat on a BlackBerry.
Mxit group chat on a BlackBerry.

In this article

AS THE Democratic Alliance (DA) works to bolster its social media operations ahead of the May 7 elections, it is developing a specialised app for Mxit which it says will take its engagement on that platform "to a new level".

The DA has also enlisted the services of renowned advertising agency MC Saatchi & Abel to assist with its TV and radio campaigns.

With the elections now only a month away, South Africa’s political parties have embarked on vigorous campaigning, and social media is one of the key battlegrounds, especially for the youth vote.

The DA has traditionally set the pace in using social media for campaign purposes, with the party’s leader Helen Zille very active on the micro-blogging site Twitter, even though some of her tweets have attracted controversy.

The DA, just like the African National Congress (ANC), already has a Mxit app with almost 200,000 subscribers. The party said the specialised new Mxit app would supplement the existing one.

DA communications director Gavin Davis said in an interview at the weekend that the party was putting a lot of energy into Mxit.

"(The specialised app) is still in development, so I do not want to give away too much at this stage," Mr Davis said. He added: "All I can say is that it involves a game that rewards players based on their engagement with politics and party policies."

Mxit is a free mobile instant messaging service, with more than 7-million active users.

Earlier this year, the ANC unveiled its own Mxit app, targeting the youth, whom many believe will be a key deciding factor in the outcome of the elections. The MyANC app is available for free download and the party said its launch followed the success of the My ANC Western Cape Mxit app, which got more than 400,000 subscribers.

"Social media is a great way for us to showcase the extent of our campaign around the country, to break new stories and, most importantly, to engage with voters," said Mr Davis. He also said the DA had seconded a number of staff members to work on the party’s election campaign with many working around the clock "to get the message out there in volume".

"Despite the gruelling schedule, there is tremendous esprit de corps," Mr Davis said.

DA CEO Jonathan Moakes said the party’s TV and radio campaigns had been well received. "Our message resonates well and polling shows that support for the DA is increasing," Mr Moakes said.

On the criteria used to appoint MC Saatchi & Abel to bolster the party’s TV and radio campaigns, Mr Moakes said: "Naturally, the agency must identify with our objectives as an organisation and share our values. Furthermore, they need to understand and internalise the campaign strategy."

The DA’s campaign slogan for this year’s election is: "Together for change. Together for jobs."

Mr Moakes said the party arrived at this campaign slogan after extensive research.

"Our core offer to voters in this campaign is change from Jacob Zuma’s ANC … change that cuts corruption and creates jobs," he said.

The DA’s campaign slogan is a noticeable departure from the controversial "Fight back" slogan of 1999, which was dubbed by the ANC as "Fight black".

Mr Moakes said the DA had learnt lessons from all past campaigns. "We are experiencing great feedback on our advertising."