#SAElections2019 is all over including the shouting. Did you miss something? Here is most of Grocott’s Mail’s election coverage in one place. On this page, find:
ELECTION DAY – as it happened: what made people go and cast their vote on Wednesday 8 May 2019
THE BIG ISSUES… party policies and practices on Sport, Health and Education.
MANIPULATING OR INFLUENCING? How much did social media affect the 2019 vote?
BREAKING NEWS… the national and local results picture as it emerged.
THE LEAD-UP – the week leading up to voting day.
THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL – We used artistic licence to sum up the mood of each top-three party’s campaigns. Can you guess which parties we’re talking about here?
1. ‘Where the people are many and their hands are all empty… Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters… Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison… And it’s a hard rain’s a’gonna fall’ – Bob Dylan.
2. ‘Foul deeds will rise, Though all the earth o’erwhelm them, to men’s eyes.’ – Shakespeare (Hamlet)
3. ‘There’s no love… like your love… I’d walk the wire for you…’ – Brian Adams (Everything I do, I do it for you).
ELECTION DAY – AS IT HAPPENED…
WEDNESDAY 8 MAY
A sign of hope
Citizens talk to the Grocott’s Mail team about what made them get out of the door to go and vote. Our team – boosted by Rhodes University School of Journalism and Media Studies students (Radio and Photojournalism) spoke to voters, party agents and IEC officials right across Makana Municipality – from Alicedale to Salem, Vukani to St Aidan’s. Here’s what they were hoping for. (Enjoy the excellent interviewing and photography work of the students!)
https://www.grocotts.co.za/2019/05/09/maybe-by-the-time-i-die/
https://www.grocotts.co.za/2019/05/10/making-my-responsible-mark/
https://www.grocotts.co.za/2019/05/09/599089/
https://www.grocotts.co.za/2019/05/12/well-organised-venues-hopeful-voters/
THE BIG ISSUES…
Grocott’s Mail looked at parties, policies and practices when it comes to Sport, Health and Education.
https://www.grocotts.co.za/2019/05/03/develop-facilities-to-develop-stars/
https://www.grocotts.co.za/2019/05/03/talking-health-at-the-party/
https://www.grocotts.co.za/2019/05/10/after-the-elections-is-it-more-of-the-same-for-education/
MANIPULATING OR INFLUENCING?
What if things aren’t what they seem? Kindling, wildfires and straight-up disinformation – @clearlykath Kathryn Cleary looks at them all.
https://www.grocotts.co.za/2019/05/10/social-media-and-the-elections/
BREAKING NEWS…
Elections Editor @Steven_Lang burned the midnight oil to get the national and local picture as it emerged.
WEDNESDAY 8 – THURSDAY 9 MAY
The national picture emerges – and our Elections Editor @Steven_Lang focuses on how it plays out here in Makana Municipality.
https://www.grocotts.co.za/2019/05/10/anc-loses-ground-in-makana/
WEDNESDAY 8 – THURSDAY 9 MAY
Our team has been all over Makana and we sum up the mood and tempo of the day.
https://www.grocotts.co.za/2019/05/09/voters-brave-rain-and-mud-for-saelections2019/
THURSDAY 9 MAY
There’s concern expressed about the integrity of the IEC’s voting systems, and checks and balances. Our Elections Editor @Steven_Lang takes a look.
https://www.grocotts.co.za/2019/05/09/rule-of-the-thumb/
SUNDAY 12 MAY
@Grocotts has been retweeting the #SAElections2019 and #SAElectionsResults2019 tweets of @Steven_Lang and @clearlykath Kathryn Cleary. Elections Editor Steven Lang, who burned the midnight oil on Wednesday, tracking the local results as they landed, earned 90 600 impressions on his Twitter feed over the seven days from Monday 6 to Sunday 12 May.
THE LEAD-UP
The lead-up to election day – some of our coverage relevant to local interests.
How to vote (we thought you should know…)
https://www.grocotts.co.za/2019/05/06/your-passage-through-a-voting-station/
Concerns as protests threaten to disrupt voting…
https://www.grocotts.co.za/2019/05/07/iec-in-eastern-cape-still-facing-protests/
https://www.grocotts.co.za/2019/05/01/election-work-can-be-lethal/
THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL
The build-up in black and white. And red and green, blue and white and green and gold…
Economic Freedom Fighters
In Makana, the EFF’s Friday outings saw the red-and-green out and about at the taxi rank, farms and Inkanini informal settlement, with a clear message of support for those outside the mainstream economy. Our team voted them the best dressed, best looking and most stylish on the campaign trail.
https://www.grocotts.co.za/2019/04/29/eff-likes-it-local/
Democratic Alliance
Meanwhile, back in Elsinore, the DA had the far more complicated task of expressing what is rotten in the state of Denmark (sewage spills, school pit latrines and bucket toilets in informal settlements here in Makhanda provided vivid illustrations) while at business breakfasts convincing King Hamlet’s ghost that they would restore the kingdom by keeping the lights on and securing its borders. King Cyril, by now in a state of virtue as the State Capture Inquiry got under way, proved unassailable. And who will ever forget the DA’s relentless automatic call campaign…
https://www.grocotts.co.za/2019/04/18/das-mazzone-is-confident-for-elections/
African National Congress
Talking of the State, the ANC used every instrument in its repertoire to convince the people that “Everything I do…. I do it for you”. From top-level drop-in’s by ministers and MECs to do “oversight” on the embarrassing issues of no-water, sewage in the streets and horrible health and social welfare (Zweli Mkhize, Phumulo Masualle, Helen Sauls-August among others), to all-out jorls (Zahara headlining a Department of Social Development gig at the Indoor Sports Centre and Cyril Ramaphosa the main act for Freedom Day at a dilapidated Miki Yili). It worked: supporters were convinced that “there’s no love like your love” – and, they said…
https://www.grocotts.co.za/2019/04/16/sanitary-dignity-programme-launches-in-makana/
https://www.grocotts.co.za/2019/04/28/makhanda-hosts-successful-freedom-day-celebrations/
https://www.grocotts.co.za/2019/04/28/ramaphosa-with-praise-and-power/