- http://blogs.thetimes.co.za/hartley

Emil´s last blog post was: My business card for the Internet age (Note: 6000 miles… is not responsible for the content of external internet sites)

I have personally spoke to a lot of people these last few weeks, people that you would imagine will be voting for the ANC. The collective words out of most of these people’s mouths were: “We want to stop Zuma. He is a bad example for our children, for our people.”

Is Helen Zille not only promising to give them what they ask for? It is not that we want to see the country fail to be able to say we were right about Zuma – that would be utterly foolish. But you know the saying: “Prevention is better than cure”. That is SO damn right.

sonkind´s last blog post was: Tandem – hoofstuk 3 (Note: 6000 miles… is not responsible for the content of external internet sites)

Broadly, on strategy, the GOTV phase may work on the day, but this isn’t a one-shot game. The image of the DA is shaped by these individual iterations of a repeating game, and I don’t think their interests are served in the long run by reinforcing the perception of the party as anti-something. For the first time in a long time, the party was looking positive, and seemed to be moving away from the short-term, opportunistic, and perhaps cynical days of blunders like welcoming the NNP into the fold. I had hoped for those moves to be a sign of a permanent change of strategy, and this somewhat dashes those hopes.

Jacques´s last blog post was: SA Elections: The DA’s “Stop Zuma” campaign (Note: 6000 miles… is not responsible for the content of external internet sites)

I recognise that (in your opinion) the ANC has made a lot of unpopular and/or incorrect decsions. But to voice your opinions and to suggest to an international audience that those decisions are going to destroy this country is a foolish and dangerous move. What good can that bring?
We know that JZ is going to be the President after these elections and now the rest of the world has put Zille’s two and two together and regards SA as the next Zimbabwe.
Would you rather that the country fails and proves you right than succeeds under Zuma?

Once again, I do not think that these scare-tactics are warranted or ethical and I’m disappointed that the DA has chosen to employ them.
I do not have an axe to grind here. I can’t vote and so I am looking on almost impartially. But I still wonder whether the DA is damaging its chances of winning the Western Cape (you say not) and the reputation of the country (you blame the ANC).

I think we’re all in for an interesting ride.

The final result of the election comes down to the extent to which parties can turn out their support base. We might lose a few voters who find the negative campaign distasteful, but we also increase the percentage turnout of DA supporters to a much greater extent. In addition, as much as a third of ANC supporters are uncomfortable with Jacob Zuma’s candidacy. Only half of its supporters think he is innocent. Going negative on Jacob Zuma can depress the ANC’s turnout among those most uncomfortable with Zuma, which in a proportional representation system means we do relatively better.

And the DA isn’t solely responsible for the negative publicity abroad; the ANC is. They elected Jacob Zuma as their leader; they shut down the Scorpions; they fired Vusi Pikoli because he refused to withdraw charges against Jacob Zuma; they have a draft constitutional amendment to reduce local governments to administrative arms of the national government, and thus remove the rights of opposition run councils to legitimately deviate from ANC policy. It’s a complete fallacy that the messenger is responsible.

Helen Zille wants to make sure that every voter in South Africa is aware of the risks of an ANC two-thirds majority so they can’t say five or ten years down the wrong road, I should have done something to prevent this.

Anthony´s last blog post was: Christian Helberg and Akanbi samuel are now friends (Note: 6000 miles… is not responsible for the content of external internet sites)

Robyn > Thanks. Just speaking my mind. Mind you, last time I did that, you described it as codswallop. Memory like an elephant , I have, and the similarities don’t stop there. (baggy knees)