AfricaNews editors
The ruling African National Congress (ANC) of South Africa is expanding its online electioneering efforts ahead of the national and provincial elections to be held on 22 April 2009. The party has started blogs on its official website, www.myanc.org, authored by high-ranking party members.
The bloggers on the website include Jessie Duarte, Janet Love and Cyril Ramaphosa, the itnewsafrica.com reported. According to the report, the ANC spokesperson Jessie Duarte said: “Our blog is a natural extension of the active listening, responding and engagement that the ANC has consistently done throughout its 97 years of existence.”
“We see it as a ‘virtual imbizo’. Instead of talking face to face we are talking in a virtual environment. There is such a danger in seeing the online campaign as separate or somehow different. It’s not. It’s an extension of our engagement with citizens. More talking. More listening. And most importantly, more conversation.”
Other parties, including the Congress of the People (COPE) and the Democratic Alliance (DA) have also turned to the internet in an attempt to woo voters, the report added.
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