KZN ANC slams desperate DA's attempt to exploit Madiba magic in campaign ads
5 July 2016
The African National Congress (ANC) in KZN has condemned the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) 2016 local government election campaign advert featuring former President Nelson Mandela’s voice as plagiarism and cheap politicking by a desperate organisation devoid of its own freedom struggle icons.
“The DA has once again shown that it will stop at nothing in its efforts to manufacture its non-existent struggle credentials by stealing another political organisation’s former leader and international icon for its own election campaign,” said KZN ANC Provincial Secretary Super Zuma.
The DA’s 2016 local government election advert uses Nelson Mandela’s voice to claim that it - and not the ANC - stands for Madiba’s political vision. The advert and the message it conveys has been widely criticised, not least by the family of former President Nelson Mandela.
“The DA has been desperately trying to prove its relevance for a long time by every means possible and it has now resorted to downright plagiarism and appropriation of another organisation’s political vision for its own purposes. This is a blatant recognition by the DA that its own political vision has failed,” said Zuma.
“As the ANC we cannot stand idle when the counter-revolutionary elements are exploiting our symbols and heritage and seek to re-write history in a carefully-crafted campaign to appropriate the legacy and the icons of the ANC with the sole aim of using them to gain political currency”, said Zuma.
“What the DA should know is that no amount of plagiarism or illegal expropriation of ANC icons names would exonerate it from being the party that represents the sins of apartheid”, Zuma added.
While the ANC condemns the DA’s plagiarism, it also appreciates the acknowledgement by this political party that the only credible and election-winning formula in the South African political landscape is the one presented consistently since 1912 by the ANC. Everyone in this election provides no alternative to ANC policy hence the ANC is in this campaign fighting to better its own records.
Issued by Mdumiseni Ntuli, ANC Provincial Spokesperson, ANC KZN, 5 July 2016
