Had enough of the constant stream of text messages and calls from the Democratic Alliance as the 3 August municipal elections approach? The party has now provided details of how to unsubscribe yourself from its barrage of communication, while insisting that it complies with South African privacy and communications regulations and codes.

In a statement on Sunday, the DA’s executive director of information, Warwick Chapman, said the DA will remove people from its lists who don’t want to receive its electronic communication.

The following requests are processed, Chapman said:

Voters who reply to an SMS requesting to be removed;
Voters who click “unsubscribe” in an e-mail;
Voters who call the party’s call centre and ask not to be called (‪0861 22 55 32); and
Voters who ask not to be called again when phoned by its campaigners.

In addition to processing the above requests, the DA allows voters to directly manage their communication preferences on its website, according to Chapman.

“The Democratic Alliance is the only party in South Africa that allows voters to manage their communication preferences with the party,” he said in the statement.

“During the campaign, we have a duty to communicate our offer to voters. Political campaigning is critical to the vitality of any democracy,” he added.

“We must balance our campaign communication with the responsibility to stop interacting with those voters who do not wish to hear from us. The DA’s campaign is powered by a set of integrated systems designed to comply with South African privacy and communication regulations and codes.

“No other political party can lay claim to investing as heavily in ensuring that the rights and preferences of voters are respected during the election period.