We need a Pres with pizzazz

MOST people will agree that the world of fashion and glamour is far more fun and attractive than that of politics - particularly if you're living in South Africa right now.

MOST people will agree that the world of fashion and glamour is far more fun and attractive than that of politics - particularly if you're living in South Africa right now.

As we enter the busiest month in local fashion (there are no less than three fashion weeks to take in during August), the ANC is gearing-up to pick its leader - and our future president.

Before they make the final call, dare I suggest that those involved seriously consider finding us a candidate with a bit of glamour and style, who could inspire people with more than just his party allegiance?

Perhaps the goings on in the US in the past few weeks should be something of a lesson to us. For in the same month that British Prime Minister Gordon Brown visited George Bush at Camp David, a far more famous Briton landed in Los Angeles.

Sky television showed New Yorkers drawing a blank when asked to identify a picture of Brown; the Beckhams' publicity machine made sure the whole world knew it when they arrived in town.

Some might call me superficial, but I believe it's high time politicians took a leaf out of the celebrities' book and realised that it's flair that hits the headlines, not simply toeing a solid party line. Of course, politicians need to come with the right qualifications and intentions - that's a given. But it's the power of pizzazz that we seem to have lost as our politicians have become the dullest bunch imaginable.

And I don't mean they should all be getting a Paris Hilton suntan before taking their picture for the ballot sheet.

The power of appealing to popular culture was identified by Tony Blair, whose Cool Brittania campaign when he became British prime minister captured the public imagination as never before.

Yes, Blair's coolness faded significantly towards the end because of the Iraq war, but there's no doubt he set a new benchmark when it came to identifying the fact that Britain was home to some of the coolest chefs, designers and musicians in the world, and making that part of his marketing plan for his country. The people loved it and the world fell in love with Britain.

Frankly, I am tired of reading about the internal politics of the ANC. I want to meet a leader who thinks out of the party and into the 21st century. I want to meet a leader who has an iPhone, who puts herself on Facebook and who launches the presidential campaign on Second Life.

I want to meet a leader who knows who Amanda Laird Cherry is, who furnishes his house from Tonic and who eats at Assaggi in Illovo. I want a leader who listens to the Parlotones.

Walk into any glamorous bar or restaurant in the northern suburbs of Johannesburg, Soweto, or the city bowl in Johannesburg and you will see the South Africans who are building this nation.

From the Motsepes to the Kumalos, from Mark Shuttleworth to Tokyo Sexwale, these are the people who are putting South Africa on the world map. Why aren't they leading the country too?

We live in a world of hype and headlines, and South Africa has all the sexiness needed to hit those headlines.

But we need a leader who can bottle that sexiness and take the people along for the ride.

So rather than bore the world to death with just another party plodder, please give us someone with a bit of style. Someone with a bit more Becks than Brown, more Mandela than Mbeki.

Can't you just picture it? The Cool South Africa election campaign, in which leading designers dress the candidates, our IT whiz-kids run the campaign centre and the election rallies feature our best artists? They'll have my vote.

.Myburgh, a former editor of ELLE magazine, is a freelance writer and media consultant