Democratic Alliance (DA) Leader, Mmusi Maimane commemorates the brave students of June 1976, together with Violet Mabaso, the mother of youth activist, Thili Mabaso, who lost his life in the struggle for a better South Africa. 15 June 2018, Hector Pieterson Memorial, Orlando West, Soweto. Picture: Tracy Lee Stark
A Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) report into the 2016 local government elections shows the ANC received much more media coverage than other political parties.
This comes in the wake of calls by ANC head of the presidency Zizi Kodwa for the SABC to give the party more news coverage, proportional to the 62% electoral support it gained in the 2014 national polls.
With the 2019 national elections just months away, political parties have already begun to battle on policy issues such as land redistribution, crime, corruption, racism and the state of the economy.
In terms of news coverage of the 2016 polls the MMA said the ANC received 43.5%, followed by the Democratic Alliance (DA) at 24.0%, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) at 12%, the National Freedom Party at 4.7%, Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) at 4.3% and other political parties at 11%.
In determining who “the loudest voices” in the media were in the run-up to the polls, DA leader Mmusi Maimane came tops at 10%, followed by the EFF’s Julius Malema at 6%. Former ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe got 5%, the IFP’s Mangosuthu Buthelezi had 3% and former ANC Gauteng chairperson Paul Mashatile had a mere 1%.
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