Ramphele’s Agang gains traction on social media
Mamphela Ramphele has announced the formation of a “political party platform” called Agang, that will focus on “rekindling hope that building the country of our dreams is possible in our lifetime”.
The platform was announced late Monday morning (18 February 2013) and gained traction on social media almost immediately as the party’s official Twitter account @AgangSA accrued over 2,000 followers within the first hour of going live, with the number rapidly increasing.
The account only began tweeting on Monday.
Ramphele Twitter
Related hashtags – #Ramphele and #Agang – were also the top trending words on the social media platform for South Africa.
The political platform was created with a view to contesting the 2014 elections, though Ramphele said she was under no illusions that the task would be an easy one.
“We have been here before,” she said in a speech delivered at the Women’s Gaol on Constitution Hill.
“We managed to pull ourselves from the brink of disaster before and surprised those who under-estimated our resolve as a people.”
“The political party platform we are working on forming is an opportunity for all citizens to join hands in shaping it to ensure that it responds to the yearnings of citizens who have largely stood on the sidelines for lack of an appropriate political home.”
At this stage of development, she said, “We launch this initiative under the name Agang, or in the Nguni languages of our country, Akhani, which can be interpreted in English as ‘Build South Africa’.”
As part of the announcement, Ramphele announced a one million signature campaign calling for electoral reform, saying it must be the first order of business of the post-2014 election parliament.
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