Some party leaders lose face in the battle of the posters

WITH the election date set for August 3, political parties will start rolling out millions of campaign posters across the country in a bid to capture the hearts and minds of voting South Africans.

Lampposts across the country already bear the campaign colours of several political parties urging South Africans to register to vote, and each party’s poster reveals much about its strategy and target market.

Much has been made about the apparent absence of President Jacob Zuma’s face on ANC posters until now, but party spokesman Zizi Kodwa said Zuma’s face featured on all the manifesto-launch posters.

Initial ANC posters featured South African celebrities, in an attempt to appeal to the youth, along with the green ID book, on the party’s green, black and gold colours.

Kodwa said posters would also feature mayoral candidates, but that they were not the focus of the campaign.

“The strength of the ANC campaign has always been our person-to-person contact,” he said.

The DA posters have broken away from the traditional blue and white. These now feature the colours of the flag and the face of party leader Mmusi Maimane, “the public face of our campaign”, according to party CEO Paul Boughey.

“This will be supported by posters with our mayoral candidates in Johannesburg, Tshwane, Nelson Mandela Bay and Cape Town,” he said.

Boughey would not say how many posters would be used, only that their presence would be “significant”.

The DA posters also appear to be in darker shades this year. The colours are yellow, black and red, along with the traditional blue a little heavier.

EFF elections co-ordinator Veronica Mente said some posters would bear the face of leader Julius Malema and others “motivational messages”.

The Malema poster shows him smiling.

Another EFF poster uses the pointing finger of war-time recruiting placards. It tells voters, in bold lettering: “This is your last chance.” The pointing hand is black, like the EFF’s core constituency.

“We have always said we will be contesting in all 4 392 wards and we still maintain the position, so we will be postering everywhere,” said Mente.

The Freedom Front Plus, often perceived to be a party of ageing supporters, appears to be focusing on younger voters.

The party has decided that most registration posters should carry the picture of a young white woman, rather than that of party leader Pieter Mulder.

The woman’s face is blurred out in the photograph and the focus is on her hand, with the message “your future is in your hands” painted on her hand, in Afrikaans.

The IFP has stayed with its usual formula, using the face of party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi and a large version of its elephant logo on its registration posters.

The party’s campaign poster will also feature the leader, but this has yet to be unveiled.