Citizen Voices

Write for Mandate SA

You know what is happening where you live. Write about it, with your sources, and reach South Africans who care. Articles are published as “Citizen contributor”, apart from Mandate SA’s own reporting, after an editor checks them.

Start writing

How it works

Step 1Sign inCreate a free citizen account with your email address. No app or second step is needed.
Step 2WriteWrite about a social issue: what is happening, who it affects, and what the record shows. Plain text or simple formatting (headings, lists, bold, links).
Step 3Source itAdd 1 to 10 links to publications and proof: official reports, council minutes, budgets, court records, news reports. Every factual claim needs a source.
Step 4DeclareConfirm it is your own work, disclose any AI help, and say whether you are a party member, candidate or party staff.
Step 5Editor checkA Mandate SA editor checks the article and its sources, then approves it, asks for changes or explains why it was not accepted.
Step 6It goes liveWe email you when your article is live in Citizen Voices, with the link and ideas for sharing it.

How we pay: a fixed monthly prize pool

Mandate SA pays from a fixed monthly pool of R3 000. However many people write, the total paid in a month never goes above the pool.
An article qualifies in a month when it has at least 1 000 verified real views that month, a helpful rate of at least 60% from at least 30 reader poll answers, and no flag.
A qualifying article earns R100 for every full 1 000 verified views that month, up to R1 000 over the article's lifetime and R500 per writer per month.
When qualifying articles together earn more than the pool, the best-ranked are paid first (verified views × helpful rate) until the pool is used. The rest show "qualified, pool used up this month".
Earnings are held for 30 days after the month ends, then paid by bank transfer (EFT) once you are owed at least R100.
Party members, candidates and party staff may write, but their articles are labelled and are not paid. Members of organisation accounts are not paid.

These are today’s numbers. Mandate SA funds the pool itself and may change them; your dashboard always shows the current ones. Prize payments are not a salary, and you are responsible for declaring them for tax.

What counts as a real view

A real person reads the article in a browser for at least 20 seconds with the page visible, and scrolls at least half way.
A quiet, invisible human check (Cloudflare Turnstile) passes. No account or cookie is needed.
One view per reader, per article, per day. Your own views are never counted.
Known bots and crawlers are ignored. Many views from one network, or sudden bursts, are held for an editor to check.
Mandate SA stores no IP addresses: only a scrambled code that changes every day and is deleted after two days.
Bought views, bot traffic or click farms are voided and can disqualify the article.

Every article ends with a short poll: “Did you read this article?” and “Was it helpful?”. Only answers from readers with a real view count toward the helpful rate. Readers can also suggest what to change or add; only you and the editors see those suggestions.

The rules

Write about social issues and the public record, in your own words. Copied text is detected and not accepted.
Source every factual claim. Opinion is welcome when it is clearly your opinion.
Name people only for what they did in public life, and only with a source. Allegations need an official or court record.
No hate speech, threats, personal details (ID numbers, phone numbers, home addresses) or private information about anyone.
Disclose any AI help. AI may help you edit; the work and the facts must be yours.
Comments are plain text: no links, web addresses or contact details. Comments never count toward pay.

Neutrality

Mandate SA is independent and politically neutral. Writers may hold any view, but articles are not campaign material. Party members, candidates and party staff may write; their articles say so and are never paid. Members of organisation accounts on Mandate SA are not paid either.

Grow your readers

Share it in your community WhatsApp groups: people who know the issue read to the end and answer the poll.
Tag @officialmandatesa when you post it.
Post it in the first hour after it goes live, while it is fresh.
Reply to comments: readers come back when the writer answers.
Never buy views. Bought or bot views are voided and can disqualify the article.

How to join

Sign in or create a free citizen account, open My articles and choose Write an article. You agree to the contributor terms when you submit.

Start writing Read Citizen Voices