Democracy game show makes voter education engaging

Described as a new approach to civic and voter education in an entertaining game-show format, it is part of the voter education campaign whose partners include SABC Education and the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).

The 13-part show takes contestants through three rounds of fun and interactive games that test their knowledge and makes voter education engaging.

"The show makes voter education fun. Six contestants are challenged with various questions, giving a winner the opportunity to win R10 000 cash every week by proving he or she is smarter than a politician. In the first round, two teams of three contestants must be first on the buzzer to answer a rapid series of questions about our democracy. At the end of the round the team that's ahead on points chooses one member of the opposing team for elimination. This is the first democracy game-show ever on SABC television," explains Surekha Singh, commissioning editor at SABC Education's Public Information and Social Development unit.

In the next round, the two teams answer multiple-choice questions and race each other to build a structure called 'The House of Democracy'. The team with the lowest score at the end of the round is eliminated. The final round includes a quick fire session with the remaining contestants, the one with the lowest scoring points is eliminated. The remaining two enter the 'Great Debate' where a controversial aspect of a living democracy is featured and gets two solid arguments going; one 'for' and one 'against. The studio audience choose the most convincing speaker who wins the prize. Each week viewers and the studio audience stand a chance to win BlackBerry cellphones.

The show will be hosted by Aubrey Poo, an experienced theatre and television actor, and promises to be an exciting show that engages all South Africans, who says, "the show will create an awareness of constitutional rights for people who don't have access to that kind of information. The show does that in a fun and exciting way while challenging contestants and people sitting at home to put on their thinking caps."