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News 2009-01-16 Mobile payments boost political campaigns BY ALEX KAYLE , JOURNALIST, 9 January 2008 [ Johannesburg, 9 January 2009 ] - Several South African political parties have adopted a cellphone payment solution, Pocit Elect, to financially boost their campaigns. According to Gerrie van Zyl, CEO of Tradebridge, the holding company for the cellphone payment system, within the first three weeks of initial sign-ups, around 100 cellphone payments were coming in every day. One unnamed party generated R80 000 in funding during December. The major parties that have signed up for the Pocit Elect solution include Congress of the People (Cope), Independent Democrats, Inkatha Freedom Party, United Democratic Movement, African Christian Democratic Party, Freedom Front Plus and the Christian Democratic Alliance. The non-profit solution is based on the system that US president-elect Barack Obama used to further his campaign. Van Zyl points out: “With Barack Obama's campaign, most donations were $10 and it gave him the most lavish campaign chest of any election yet.” Van Zyl says people will be able to donate from R5 to as much as R99 999 or more through multiple payments using the Pocit solution. Oliver Krantz, Tradebridge COO, says the solution started operating in June last year and functions in a similar fashion to PayPal. “Cope was the first party to sign up in December. It's an optimal way for political parties to get money for their campaigns in the short-term. The initiative will run until the end of March, throughout the elections. After that, it will be made available to other organisations. We've already received interest from NGOs.” Voting benefits Van Zyl says the solution allows the South African public to have a direct input into the coming elections. “An election is a very costly process. Just to get on a national ballot costs a political party close to R600 000 and that is before they have funded a single meeting or even printed posters. The estimates we are hearing from political parties is that they need a minimum of R10 million each to wage a successful election campaign. “Political campaign fundraising has historically been a difficult task,” says Van Zyl. “In SA, the Internet does not have the same potential as the cellphone, because only a small percentage of the population has access to the Internet and electronic banking. More than 10 million South African adults will be able to make a donation [via cellphone]. Not only would this help the political party to run more informative campaigns, it would also help in encouraging public voting.” In addition, Tradebridge is looking for a media partner to come on board closer to the national elections and will monitor donations made from the public to the political parties. This will form an indicator of early political trends. An independent agency is being contracted to audit the process and each political party will receive a Pocit Elect report after the elections. Non-profit initiative Pocit Elect is free to the user; however, 5% is taken from the political party to cover costs generated from banking fees. Any excess money will be donated to the Read Educational Trust at the end of the election. Pocit Elect can be used by anyone who has a bank account, Visa, MasterCard, credit card or cheque card through any cellphone service provider. However, it cannot be used with a debit card. If users don't have a bank account, money can be transferred into their cellphone by another person. The public can download the application on their cellphone from http://www.pocit.mobi/, and SMS their party and the donation – for example, Cope R100. They then register by entering their name, identification number, PIN, security questions and bank account details. Those with a credit card or cheque card can pay immediately, while those with savings accounts will face a two-day delay. According to Van Zyl, the solution does not work on the Apple iPhone. He says in that case, Pocit Elect will give the user the bank deposit details. The Pocit Elect application is claimed to be secure and the information provided is kept confidential. Van Zyl says while the African National Congress and the Democratic Alliance have not formally signed a Pocit Elect contract yet, they are going through the necessary processes and there is no reason to believe they would not sign on in the near future. Cope declined to comment on its adoption of Pocit Elect. |
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