CONCOURT RULING REAFFIRMS ANC VIEW THAT DA SMS WAS NOT FACT

19 JANUARY 2015

The African National Congress has noted the ruling of the Constitutional Court into the matter relating to the SMS sent out by the DA last year claiming President Zuma stole R246 million to build his home. Today's ruling reaffirms our view that the DA sent out a false statement in order to influence the outcome of an election last year. 

The Constitutional Court has agreed with the ANC that the SMS sent by the DA was an opinion of the DA and not a fact. It is not true that President Zuma stole taxpayers' money to build his homestead in Nkandla - a point made by the successive reports of competent authorities including the Public Protector.

It is regrettable that in spite of the ruling, which supports our view, the DA continues to play politics, hailing this as a victory when the Constitutional Court has been clear that the DA presented their opinions as fact on such an important matter.

As we accept the ruling by the Constitutional Court, the ANC continues to believe that the statement made by the DA was an outright attack on our democracy as it allowed the party to send out misleading information disguised as fair comment in order to influence the outcome of an election.

Despite this desperate offensive by the DA, the masses of our people dismissed their attempts to discredit the ANC and its leadership, remained loyal to the organisation understanding the important work being done by various state agencies to deal with the real problem of Nkandla - which is the inflation of prices by contractors and individuals tasked with delivering on the project. 

It is incumbent upon all of us as South Africans, as part of strengthening our maturing democracy and in the contestation of ideas, we ensure that the opinions of others do not get presented as factual information in order to gain baseless advantage as has been done in this instance.

Statement issued by Zizi Kodwa, ANC national spokesperson, January 19 2015

Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter