Local petitions website targets political accountability

Cape Town - A new local online petitions system is targeting driving public participation in political engagement.

Launched by community organisation amandla.mobi, awethu.mobi is built on the concept of driving both online and offline campaigns.

“For us, the joining of the campaign is about bringing people together in numbers that incentivise accountability and the ability to re-engage those people on follow-up actions and our team of campaigners happily supports others think through their follow-up actions,” amandla.mobi founder and director Koketso Moeti told Fin24.

The platform is aimed at mobile users and Moeti said the focus is on campaigns that have a political impact.

“Amandla.mobi is not just a petition platform, but a campaigns one. So awethu.mobi also allows for those who start campaigns to organise offline events and share with those supporting the campaign,” she said.

“An example of this being the recent launch of Youth Month, where offline action was taken at Hector Petersen Museum... . So we see joining a campaign as an entry point to a variety of other follow-up actions that vary from campaign to campaign,” Moeti added.

Campaigns

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The organisation utilised its platform to support Marikana commemoration events and also conducted protests against manufacturers of the R-5 assault rifle.

“During the FeesMustFall protests, we were able to re-engage those who supported the various related campaigns to donate data, airtime and even funds when needed,” said Moeti.

Current campaigns on the awethu.mobi platform include messages to Finance Minster Pravin Gordhan, calls to ban outsourcing at the University of the Free State and an investigation into the Lily mine disaster which left three dead.

But Moeti warned that the platform would be strictly monitored to prevent abuse.

“The terms and conditions are clear that amandla.mobi reserves the right to not publish campaigns that are racist, sexist, classist, ableist and homophobic. So campaigns uploaded are monitored and reviewed by the team of amandla.mobi campaigners.”

For people who do not have smartphones, the awethu.mobi platform also works via SMS.

Moeti promised that the platform would not seek to harvest personal information.

“Unlike other petition platforms, which develop business models using people’s data, amandla.mobi neither sells nor discloses personal information. The platform is a space where members of the public can run campaigns about issues affecting the Black majority of South Africa, particularly women.”

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