STEVEN FRIEDMAN: When the media is the message but not the vote
Mashaba will stay popular as a celebrity, but a new party’s chances will be pretty slim
04 February 2020 - 14:27
Herman Mashaba seems destined to become the next politician to discover that doing well in elections is about attracting voters, not media attention.
Mashaba’s plan to launch a new political party has attracted predictable excitement in the regular and social media where, for reasons that are not readily apparent, he is something of a celebrity. But, though there is clearly a huge gap for a new party that appeals to middle-class black voters, the chances of Mashaba’s party making an impact are slim, regardless of how many people notice him on Twitter and how many hours of TV coverage he receives...
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