ANC loses metros‚ but wins when it comes to ‘mentions’

The African National Congress (ANC) may have lost some municipalities in the local government elections‚ but it has “led social media conversations” since August 3.

That’s according a report by media intelligence provider Meltwater‚ which tracked “exposure around the three major political parties‚ namely the ANC‚ Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF)”.

Of the “771 228 social media mentions” it recorded between August 4 and 18‚ the ANC got 519 203 mentions‚ followed by the DA with 148 121 and the EFF on 103 904.

While the ANC has attempted to separate its losses in the municipal polls from various scandals involving President Jacob Zuma‚ “40% of the ANC mentions made direct reference” to the leader of the party and the country.

“An analysis of social media sentiments show that the majority of conversations on this theme centre around the president’s role in the ANC’s diminished votes during the elections‚ as well as the discussion arising during the candidate interviews for the role of Public Protector‚” the report found.

It also noted that “while the majority of editorial coverage around the DA and EFF makes reference to the possible coalitions in Tshwane and the Nelson Mandela Bay area‚ social media conversation shows more of a focus on the dynamics between the ANC and the EFF”.

This‚ it added‚ “reached a spike in exposure when both the DA and EFF announced the results of their respective coalition talks in the various metropolitan areas‚ as expected”.

The coalitions never materialised‚ with the EFF saying it would vote to oust the ANC but remained opposed to the DA on policy issues. – Tiso Black Star Group Digital