Election fever has been ratcheted up several notches over the past few weeks, as one by one various political parties have launched their election manifestos.

Some commentators, such as radio’s Tshidi Madia, now speak of the potentially high impact of ‘stadiumology’, referring to the nexus between filling stadia, providing lavish entertainment, enhancing the cult of the leader, and generally associating the contents of the manifesto with a feel-good aura, no matter how bleak the situation.

Stadia are said to provide an energy for the party concerned. For those in the migration sector, where so much policy is driven by populism, the full stadia are also a measure for assessing how on point their policies might or might not be.

Paper by the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference Parliamentary Liaison Office