When i heard the news, i complained to them that hosting the debate between 12-1 on a Friday would exclude muslims. Just like jewish people consider Saturdays holy and Christians sunday, muslims consider friday a holy day and all muslims are required to pray Jummah on a friday, which is usually between 12:30 and 1:30.

And i received a response within a few minutes:

Naeem, Raised a valid point however

And Jason felt it was too little too late

Yes, it may be too little too late and… it may exclude 99.9% of the population who are not on twitter. However lets be clear, this is a huge step. Why?

They are making an effort at real engagement, and not just getting up on the soap box. I would like to see what comes out of this.

The DA have also been making a huge effort in engaging with online audiences using the twitter profiles of Helen Zille.

This can only be good for South Africans with the parties making a real effort to engage.

Some thoughts of including the rest of the population without access to the net or twitter?

How about Fielding questions from people via SMS, responses are sent directly to the user as well as posted to the twitter profile and website.