ANC Begins Propaganda Campaign to stay in Power

Bank’s adverts convey a ‘covert message’ January 22 2013 at 09:58am Comment on this story BABALO NDENZE babalo.ndenze@inl.co.za TWITTER was yesterday humming with responses to the FNB advertisements, with some supporting the campaign and others calling the bank to order. The bank was given a hard time on the social network, with one of its customer service accounts – @RBJacobs – doing a lot of explaining on its position and reasons for the advert. DA youth leader Mbali Ntuli, who goes by the handle @mbalimcdust, added her voice to the Twitter debate, telling the bank not to succumb to the criticism. “Don’t you guys dare bow to the pressure of the ANC. Be the principled business leaders that SA so badly needs,” tweeted Ntuli. Moloto Mothapo, spokesman for the ANC chief whip, said: “Using innocent little kids to parrot insults & political rhetoric from prepared scripts doesn’t help debate.” In one of her follow-up tweets yesterday, ANC Youth League spokeswoman Khusela Sangoni-Khawe said the bank was not running a single advert, but a “covert campaign of many videos loaded on social media”. Even former youth league spokesman Floyd Shivambu chipped in, saying he thought the league’s response was an “overreaction, unsound and unnecessary”. “Political paranoia is both dangerous & futile,” tweeted Shivambu. The Star FNB values campaign touches a nerve January 22 2013 at 09:57am Comment on this story INLSA No holds barred: Kelly Baloyi rehearsing for a TV commercial at Naledi High School in Soweto. Picture: Matthews Baloyi Babalo Ndenze FIRST National Bank has come out in defence of an advertising campaign that has drawn the ire of the ANC and its allies and been branded a “treacherous attack”. The ANC Youth League and SACP joined the ANC in slamming the campaign, with the league saying it was “deeply angered and disappointed” by the bank’s “You can help” brand campaign, launched last week, with a series of online videos in which South African youths share their views about the country. ANC spokesman Jackson Mthembu said the party was “appalled” by the campaign in which the ANC, its leadership and government were “under attack” in a “commercial masqueraded as youth views”. In one of the videos, a participant says: “Stop voting for the same government in hopes for change – instead, change your hopes to a government that has the same hopes as us.” On Sunday, youth league spokeswoman Khusela Sangoni-Khawe said FNB had failed to try to “re-create an Arab Spring of some sort in South Africa” and that the bank “uses children to make unproven claims of a government rife with corruption”. “We call upon South Africans to close ranks against what is a treacherous attack on our country,” Sangoni-Khawe said. Mthembu said the campaign was an “undisguised political statement that makes random and untested accusations against our government in the name of discourse”. “While we believe that people are entitled to their views, we don’t accept that young kids should be used as proxies to articulate political views, as in the case of the FNB advertisement.” He said the ANC leadership would “engage FNB management to seek a better understanding of the advertisement and its intended objectives”. This is not the first time the bank has fallen foul of the government of the day, having suspended a multimillion-rand anti-crime advertising campaign in 2007 under pressure from former president Thabo Mbeki’s government. The anti-crime campaign involved print, television and radio advertisements and invited the public to write to Mbeki about their experiences of crime. FNB chief marketing officer Bernice Samuels defended the bank, saying it was “disappointed” with the ANC Youth League’s response to the campaign. She added that FNB believed the league’s statement was a misinterpretation of the campaign’s intent. “We strongly deny that this initiative is a ‘treacherous act’ against the government or the country. Our intention with the campaign is to provide a platform through which we believe, as South Africans, we can use the power of help to make a positive difference in building a stronger, unified, values-based nation,” Samuels said. The bank also posted links to one of its projects, which reflects the views of 1 360 “opinion-leading young South Africans” from various backgrounds. The survey findings state how “70 percent of young South Africans conveyed a sense of hope about the country’s future, regardless of the criticisms stacked against it”. “We undertook this exercise as we strongly believe that the children of South Africa have an important voice and are critical to the country’s future success. Every interview was unscripted and uncensored – they are very much ‘from the heart’ of each child speaking,” Samuels said. The bank said individuals across age groups from Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape had responded to the survey and expressed their opinions on numerous issues. “These responses were captured through video recordings and written questionnaires or essays, and represent opinions elicited through either prompted or un-prompted formats,” the report said. The Young Communist League’s Khaya Xaba also hit out at the bank, saying it was “utterly disgusted” by the “veiled” attack on the country. The Star SOUTH AFRICA - 22 JANUARY 2013 - 11:30 ANC sets out to sink DA in next election January 21 2013 at 10:21am Comment on this story INLSA ON A HIGH: ANC Western Cape leader Marius Fransman and national chairwoman Baleka Mbete at the party s 101st birthday celebrations at Philippi near Cape Town yesterday. Pictures: Brenton Geach Cobus Coetzee, Xolani Koyana and Aziz Hartley THE WESTERN Cape ANC wants to recruit 5 000 volunteers with the sole purpose of unseating the DA from provincial government. The party hopes to enlist activists, pensioners and unemployed graduates, among others, to work full time for a year to ensure an electoral victory in 2014. They will not be paid. The volunteers would be recruited before April, ANC provincial leader Marius Fransman said yesterday. “We want these volunteers to take a sabbatical and give their full time to the ANC for 12 months. We have lots stacked against us, but it’s possible,” said Fransman on the sidelines of the ANC’s 101 year celebrations in Philippi yesterday. The ANC used the celebrations as a kick-off for its campaign to take back the province. Altogether 1 200 supporters attended the event, including party provincial heavyweights from national level. JAZZY: The colourful scene at yesterday s ANC Philippi celebrations. INLSA Fransman admitted the ANC was facing an uphill battle against a well-organised DA. The ANC in the Western Cape has seen a dramatic decline in support at the ballot box since 2004. In April 2009, it secured only 31.5 percent of the vote, while the DA received 51.4 percent. Compared with the 2004 election, the number of ANC supporters dropped from 709 052 votes in 2004 to 620 918 in 2009. The DA, on the other hand, more than doubled its support between the two elections, securing more than a million votes compared to the 424 832 it had in 2004. “We are up against big capital, the provincial government and the city. But the ANC will fight street by street, community by community, area by area to win back the Western Cape,” Fransman said. “We will get activists; non-governmental organisations; communication specialists; undergraduates who are unemployed, especially engineers; and business people to help us.” The party would get involved in every community gripe, mobilise the poor, and support workers in the province. “We must reconnect with communities and grow our membership. Every party leader must recruit new members, if you don’t sign up new members you are out,” he said. Fransman claimed his party could grow by 12 000 in the next few months. The ANC’s membership in the Western Cape had declined from 4 000 in 2011 to 38 000 last year. He believed the only way to attract more members was to show a united front. The provincial ANC has been dogged by infighting. In the lead-up to the national conference in Mangaung last month, half the province supported Jacob Zuma as party president while the others supported Kgalema Motlanthe. National chairwoman Baleka Mbete told ANC supporters yesterday the question of whether the party was united post-Mangaung still lingered. “We are supposed to unite the people of South Africa. We cannot do that if we are not united,” she said. “You would find there is money moving around, buying support for a particular faction. It is not ANC culture. “The ANC is the movement of the people and we have to remember the people are watching. They are watching how we behave.” Mbete said branches should be the starting ground of the growth the party wanted to achieve for its structures. This included recruiting more members, particularly the young. ANC Dullah Omar region chairman Xolani Sotashe said branches should accept the outcome of Mangaung, regardless of whether they supported Zuma or Motlanthe going into the conference. “We must rally behind that leadership led by President Zuma. We must unite. If we are not united then we must kiss everything behind. “We must go back to the basics, we don’t need side shows. We must win back the province. (Western Cape) must not continue to be the laughing stock of the country,” Sotashe said. The ANC in the province has established a permanent elections nerve centre to help it plan elections. l DA provincial deputy leader Theuns Botha dismissed the ANC’s plans as wishful thinking. “It is fine if the ANC wants to recruit 5 000 volunteers, but we’ll carry on with our 25 000 volunteers,” he said. The Star - - - COMMENTS BY SONNY - - All these allegations of treason against the Country and the DA are just a way for the ANC to wage an assault on Democracy in SA. Their rhetoric makes no sense and is void of any truth. We are used to Communist Propaganda and will meet their challenge with nail and tooth! ZUMA AND HIS CRONIES MUST GO! Lonmin, Marikana, De Doorn, Sasolburg, Polokwane are just a few examples of violent urban unrest action and non-delivery by the ruling party and their allies! The poor and youth are not blind to what is going on in SA, yet, when it comes to casting their vote it is based on false propaganda. A R100.00 note or a food parcel can seal their suffering or doom! We will oppose this treacherous ANC and vote them off the landscape map forever.