Campaign Pulse Podcast

The podcast decoding political campaigns. Strategy, research and insights from the people shaping campaigns, elections, and public opinion.

[Campaign Pulse Podcast @CampaignPulse_]

The wait is over.

Campaign Pulse is officially live. 🎙️

We begin with one of the biggest misconceptions in politics: campaigns and elections are not the same thing.

In our first episode, political campaign strategist @GlenMpani unpacks why that distinction matters, how campaigns shape leadership long before election day, and why understanding campaigns helps us better understand democracy itself.

If we want better politics, we need to better understand how political campaigns are built.

Watch Episode 1 now: https://t.co/mekCVv5DW8

#CampaignPulse #PoliticalCampaigns #CampaignStrategy #Leadership #PoliticalCommunication

[Campaign Pulse Podcast @CampaignPulse_]

Post-election analysis often focuses on the youth vote. But young people aren’t the only ones missing.

In this episode, we go deeper with the IEC Chairperson to ask: Who is South Africa’s missing voter — and what can the numbers tell us?

Watch Episode 4 of #CampaignPulse: https://t.co/xSQokegoYJ

#MissingVoter
#SouthAfrica
#PoliticalCampaigns

[Campaign Pulse Podcast @CampaignPulse_]

During political campaigns, attention is relatively easy to measure. Trust, and participation, is harder.

Analysing the missing voter asks us to look beyond the spectacle and understand who’s actually taking part in democratic processes.

#MissingVoter
#CampaignPulse
#PoliticalCampaigns

[Glen Sungano Mpani @glenmpani]

Who is winning attention? Who is earning trust?

South Africa’s campaign trail is revealing how parties believe political support is built, and where those assumptions deserve scrutiny.

In this edition of the Political Campaigns Resource Hub’s Political Campaigns Watch, Dimpho Lekgeu examines developments ranging from political spectacle and government delivery to candidate disputes, the EFF’s organisational work and smaller parties’ efforts to gain visibility.

Several deeper questions emerge.

Spectacle makes failure visible. Can it make an alternative credible?
Provocative visuals and online exchanges can draw attention to failing services. But voters still need to judge whether those seeking office have the capacity to improve their daily lives. The distance between attracting attention and earning trust remains significant.

When government delivery becomes campaign content, whose achievement is being promoted?
Public handovers and service interventions deserve scrutiny, particularly as campaigning intensifies. Citizens should be able to distinguish the fulfilment of public obligations from claims of party generosity.

Candidate disputes reveal who holds power inside a party.
A youth wing challenging candidate lists raises questions about representation, internal democracy and whether promises of renewal extend to the selection of those who will govern.

Organisation is less visible than spectacle, but deserves equal attention.
The EFF’s focus on building structures raises a useful question across all parties: how much campaign activity creates sustained relationships with communities, and how much ends when the event is over?

Running through these developments is the question of the missing voter. People who do not participate have different experiences, barriers and reasons for staying away. Their absence cannot simply be read as indifference, or as support waiting to be claimed.

As the contest unfolds, watch the gap between what parties stage, what they organise and what citizens experience.

Which developments would give a disengaged citizen reason to believe that participating will make a difference?

Watch the full analysis below.

#PoliticalCampaignsResourceHub #ICPC #PoliticalCampaigns #SouthAfrica #MissingVoter @ResourceHub_HQ @CampaignPulse_ @DimphoLekgeu

[Glen Sungano Mpani @glenmpani]

Growing the People Who Will Grow ICPC

When I look at this photograph, I see the people in whose growth the future of the International Centre for Political Campaigns rests.

The campaign course led by Steve Jarding represents an investment in that future: an opportunity to examine how we think, challenge what we know and strengthen what we can do together.

For more than a decade, our work has involved developing campaign strategies, shaping political communication and observing campaigns as they unfold. Experience has given us valuable knowledge. It has also sharpened our awareness of how much there is still to understand.

Campaigns demand judgement under pressure. Strong research must inform decisions. Communication must connect with citizens. Strategy requires an organisation capable of implementing it. The quality of the whole depends on how well these different capabilities work together.

This is what makes the Steve Jarding course central to our development. Learning together gives colleagues a common language for questioning assumptions, solving problems and assessing their work. It builds shared capability that can outlast any individual assignment.

Across Shikamo Political Campaigns & Advisory Services, UNDA Africa, the Political Campaigns Resource Hub and Campaign Pulse Podcast, our collective value depends on how effectively our expertise informs and strengthens one another.

Our global ambition makes that investment essential.

Working across countries requires intellectual humility. Political experience must meet local knowledge. Methods need scrutiny, and assumptions require testing. We must learn from international practice while contributing insights grounded in the contexts we understand.

The course sets a tone for that exchange. It reinforces our commitment to developing people who can contribute confidently to global conversations and deliver work whose quality earns trust across borders.

Its lasting value will emerge in everyday practice: a sharper research question, a clearer strategy, better collaboration or the confidence to challenge a weak assumption. Learning matters when it improves the work.

To the team in this photograph, thank you for being part of this journey. Your growth deserves investment, recognition and opportunity. Each of you helps shape ICPC’s standards, culture and contribution.

The global institution we aspire to build will take shape through the people we develop, the knowledge we share and the quality of the work we do together. @ResourceHub_HQ @ICPCampaigns @IPE_Official_ @ShikamoCampaign @CampaignPulse_ @UNDAfrica

#ICPC #PoliticalCampaigns #TeamDevelopment #SteveJarding

[Nyasha Mcbride Mpani @NyashaMpani]

The #MissingVoter is a real crisis in South Africa. If we look closely in 2021, 25 council seats were decided by 1 to 19 votes. Combined margin: 246 votes. In those same councils, 1,039,890 registered voters stayed home. Whoever brings these #MissingVoters back to the voting booth writes the next story come 4 November 2026 . #LGE2026 #SAElections

[Campaign Pulse Podcast @CampaignPulse_]

Who is missing from elections — and what does it mean for democracy?

In Episode 4 of Campaign Pulse, we look at participation from two sides of the political process.

We speak to Mosotho Moepya, Chairperson of the Electoral Commission of South Africa (@IECSouthAfrica), about South Africa's missing voter, voter registration and the challenge of getting eligible citizens onto the voters' roll.

We also speak to Keamogetswe Seipato, Programme Lead at My Vote Counts, about participatory democracy and why voters should have a voice beyond election day.

Listen, like, and share 👉 https://t.co/xSQokegoYJ

#CampaignPulse #PoliticalCampaigns

[International Political Campaigns Expo @IPE_Official_]

The #MissingVoter is not a new problem.

It is the eligible citizen who never registers, and the registered voter who
never turns up.

Governments have tried reforms.Campaigns have tried mobilisation.

Yet millions remain outside the political process. So #IPE27 starts with a
different question: What must campaigns redesign to reach them?

Better data.
Smarter targeting.
More relevant messaging.
Stronger mobilisation systems.

Because the challenge is not simply to mobilise the voters campaigns already know.

It is to build campaigns capable of finding the ones they don't.

4–5 August 2027
The Westin Hotel,
Cape Town, South Africa
#IPE27 #MissingVoter #PoliticalCampaigns #CampaignStrategy

[International Centre For Political Campaigns @ICPCampaigns]

We recently had the privilege of welcoming Professor Steve Jarding to work intensively with our staff from across the full ICPC ecosystem. His reputation as one of the most respected figures in political campaign management is long-established.

Across several days, our teams from @ShikamoCampaign, @UNDAfrica, @ResourceHub_HQ, and @CampaignPulseHQ were taken through a demanding engagement on the substance of winning political campaigns: how leaders make choices under pressure, how campaigns hold together under strain, how strategy is translated into movement, how public positioning acquires force, and how serious political organisations prepare not merely to contest power, but to exercise it with discipline and purpose.

Here's what we learnt, and what comes next:

#PoliticalCampaigns #CampaignManagement #Strategy #Elections #Leadership

https://t.co/Ge6xlIsqcE

[B'Flow Edutainment @bflowmusic]

Can artists still influence the outcome of elections?

It was an honor to have been hosted on the Campaign Pulse Podcast in South Africa. Thanks to @CampaignPulseHQ for the platform!

[Political Campaigns Resource Hub @ResourceHub_HQ]

Campaigns don't happen in isolation.

The UCT-PCRH Executive Short Course on How to Run and Manage a Winning Political Campaign is proud to welcome observers from leading institutions across the continent, joining us to engage with the strategic tools shaping how campaigns are run, managed, and held to account.

Lukhanyo Neer @LukhanyoNeer , Chief Operating Officer, Thabo Mbeki Foundation @TMFoundation_ , and Chair, Heavy Chef Foundation. He is spearheading the African Renaissance Precinct and the Thabo Mbeki Presidential Centre in Johannesburg.

Frankline Mukwanja @mukwanja , Executive Director, Centre for Multiparty Democracy @CMDKenya (CMD Kenya). He is a governance expert with 15+ years at the intersection of politics, public policy, media, and civil society.

Bringing these institutions into the room is as important as training the campaigns themselves. Democratic practice, strong governance, and the vision of an African Renaissance must outlast any single election cycle.

📅 28 September to 2 October 2026
📍 University of Cape Town

Building the professional infrastructure of political campaigns.

🔗 Learn more at the Political Campaigns Resource Hub: https://t.co/Kuk0iKqh1b

#PoliticalCampaigns #AfricanRenaissance #UCT #PCRH #AfricanPolitics #PoliticalHub

[Campaign Pulse Podcast @CampaignPulse_]

Artists are a mirror. They reflect what is happening in society.

But what happens when that mirror starts to speak?

Listen to one final thought from our conversation with Brian Bwembwa before we launch a new episode of Campaign Pulse tomorrow afternoon.

Watch the full episode: https://t.co/s3JnjtWD52

#CampaignPulse #PoliticalCampaigns #CampaignStrategy #PoliticalCommunication #MusicAndPolitics

[Campaign Pulse Podcast @CampaignPulse_]

A slogan can’t compensate for a strategy you haven’t figured out.

The strongest campaigns know where they’re going, who they need to bring with them, and what they need to say to get there.

Everything else should flow from that.

#CampaignStrategy #CampaignPulse

[Shikamo Political Advisory and Campaign Services @ShikamoCampaign]

A winning campaign starts with a strategy memo, not a slogan.

Write the memo first. It should answer three questions. What is the path to winning? Which voters make up your coalition? What two or three messages will move them?

Everything else comes after. This includes the war room, the field plan, and the ads. Each of these should carry out the memo's plan.

If you skip the memo, your campaign has no direction. You will have activity, but not purpose. A strong war room cannot fix a plan you never wrote.

At Shikamo, we start every project with this memo. It gives the campaign a clear plan before any action begins.

#CampaignStrategy #PoliticalConsulting #Shikamo #UNDAAfrica #ElectionStrategy #CampaignManagement

[Political Campaigns Resource Hub @ResourceHub_HQ]

Political parties founded by women are too often asked to prove themselves twice: to build a movement while defending their right to lead one. That's why preparation matters.

We are proud to welcome Ramatoulaye Oumou Khairy Fall, Vice President of the ARC Youth Movement and Deputy Elections Coordinator for Senegal's Alternative for Citizen Renewal (ARC), to the UCT-PCRH Executive Short Course on How to Run and Manage a Winning Political Campaign.

Her work drives youth participation, girls' and women's empowerment, digital inclusion, and civic engagement across Senegal.

📅 28 September to 02 October 2026
📍 University of Cape Town

Building the professional infrastructure of political campaigns.

🔗 Learn more: https://t.co/Kuk0iKqh1b

#PoliticalCampaigns #WomenInPolitics #Senegal #ARC #UCT #LeadershipTraining #CivicEngagement #AfricaPolitics

[Glen Sungano Mpani @glenmpani]

Sharper Minds. Stronger Campaigns.

Prof Steve Jarding putting the ICPC team through its paces in campaign management, challenging assumptions, examining real campaign decisions and sharpening our planning and delivery.

This is an intentional investment in the people who power our ecosystem, strengthening our expertise so our clients receive better advice, stronger campaign support and greater value for their money.

#ICPC #CampaignManagement #PoliticalCampaigns #SteveJarding @ResourceHub_HQ @ShikamoCampaign @CampaignPulseHQ @UNDAfrica @ICPCampaigns @IPE_Official_

[Campaign Pulse Podcast @CampaignPulse_]

The Missing Voter is not simply a voter-registration problem — it’s a campaign strategy problem.

If campaigns use AI, data and digital tools only to get better at finding the voters they already know, they risk becoming more efficient at leaving people behind.

IPE27 asks the harder question: how do we use technology and mobilisation to actually find the voters campaigns have historically failed to reach?

Join the conversation at the International Political Campaigns Expo, 4–5 August 2027 in Cape Town 👇

#IPE27 #MissingVoter
#PoliticalCampaigns #CampaignStrategy

[International Political Campaigns Expo @IPE_Official_]

The tools campaigns could use to find the MissingVoter may also be the tools that push them further away.

The MissingVoter is the eligible citizen who never registers, and the registered voter who does not turn up.

For campaigns, technology creates a new possibility. AI and machine learning can help identify patterns of non-participation, reveal where disengagement is concentrated and help campaigns target limited mobilisation resources more intelligently.

But technology does not arrive without risk. The same systems can amplify misinformation, undermine trust or reproduce the blind spots already embedded in campaign data.
A campaign that trains its models primarily on people who already participate may simply become more efficient at finding the electorate it already knows.

That is not a technology failure. It is a campaign design failure.
The challenge is therefore not to decide whether campaigns should use AI or digital tools.
It is to ask whether campaigns are designing these tools to expand their understanding of the electorate or simply to optimise the voters already visible in their data.

The same principle applies to mobilisation.

Digital, hybrid and in-person channels will not work in the same way everywhere. What moves a registered non-voter in one context may have little effect in another.
The campaign task is to understand the difference.

At the third International Political Campaigns Expo — IPE27 — campaign practitioners from around the world will examine how campaigns can use AI, data, digital tools and mobilisation systems responsibly and effectively to find and engage the MissingVoter.

Because the real question is not whether technology can transform political campaigning.

It already has.

The question is whether campaigns will use that transformation to reach the people they have historically failed to reach or simply become better at reaching the people they already know.

4–5 August 2027
The Westin Hotel, Cape Town, South Africa

#IPE27 #MissingVoter #PoliticalCampaigns #CampaignStrategy #AIDigitalCampaigns #PoliticalData #VoterMobilisation

[Campaign Pulse Podcast @CampaignPulse_]

Musicians have influence because they have a constituency. 🎶🗳️

As Brian Bwembya puts it, musicians have an entire community of people who listen to them — giving them a reach and influence that politicians can tap into when trying to connect with new voters.

But what happens when music, celebrity and political influence meet?

In Episode 3 of Campaign Pulse, we explore the role of musicians in political campaigns and how their existing audiences can become an important part of a campaign’s strategy.

🎧 Stream Episode 3 now on YouTube and wherever you listen to your podcasts: https://t.co/s3JnjtWD52

#CampaignPulse #BFlow
#MusicAndPolitics #PoliticalCampaigns #CampaignStrategy

[Campaign Pulse Podcast @CampaignPulse_]

Can music make us think differently about the world around us? 🎶

Musicians have a unique ability to reflect the realities of their communities, and, in doing so, make audiences stop, question and think more deeply about the state of their country.

In Episode 3 of Campaign Pulse, B’Flow explores the power of music to do more than entertain: to reflect society, shape conversations and influence how people see the issues around them.

🎧 Stream Episode 3 now on YouTube and wherever you listen to your podcasts: https://t.co/s3JnjtWD52

Decoding campaigns. Defining power.
#CampaignPulse #MusicAndPolitics #PoliticalCampaigns#PoliticalCommunication

[Campaign Pulse Podcast @CampaignPulse_]

We’re on Episode 3 of Campaign Pulse — so, meet the voice behind the conversations.

Dimpho Lekgeu is the Lead Anchor who gets to sit across from the people shaping campaigns, politics and power, asking the questions that help us understand not just what happened, but why.

From campaign strategy and political finance to the role of music in winning votes, we’re digging into the ideas, decisions and people behind political campaigns.

This is Campaign Pulse.
Decoding campaigns.
Defining power.

🎧 Episode 3 is live on YouTube: https://t.co/ix7fwKXimg

# CampaignPulse #PoliticalCampaigns #CampaignStrategy #PoliticalCommunication

[Campaign Pulse Podcast @CampaignPulse_]

Glad you asked! 👀 Our sister entity, @ResourceHub_HQ, produces resources to help people understand campaigns better and equip campaigners with tools for more data-driven strategy.

We’ll also soon be sharing more about an Executive Course on Political Campaigns, which PCRH will run in partnership with UCT this September.

Stay tuned!

[Campaign Pulse Podcast @CampaignPulse_]

Campaigns and elections aren’t the same thing.

Our host, @dimpholekgeu, explains why that distinction matters, and why understanding what happens before election day is essential to understanding how political power is won.

Watch Episode 1 of Campaign Pulse, featuring political campaign strategist Glen Mpani, as we unpack campaigns, strategy, voter engagement and the decisions that shape election outcomes.

⏯️ Watch now on YouTube and subscribe to Campaign Pulse.

Decoding campaigns. Defining power.

#CampaignPulse #PoliticalCampaigns
#CampaignStrategy #PoliticalCommunication

[Campaign Pulse Podcast @CampaignPulse_]

“Democracy is expensive.”

In Episode 2 of Campaign Pulse, Christine Esperanza Aochamus, National General Secretary of the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC), takes us inside the realities of financing a political campaign, from the costs of getting on the ground to the people, resources and decisions that keep a campaign moving.

Listen to Episode 2 of Campaign Pulse and join the conversation on money, resources and the realities of running a political campaign: https://t.co/MpbXrbSlX1

#CampaignPulse #CampaignFinance #PoliticalCampaigns #PoliticalStrategy #Democracy