POLITICS

The DA's malicious and dishonest campaign - ANC

Ruling party says opposition incapable of distinguishing right from wrong

ANC STATEMENT ON MORE LIES INSIDE THE CAPE TOWN STORY

14 May 2011

South Africans have now become accustomed to the blatant falsehoods, deceits, relentless misinformation and unbridled malicious campaign, which is the basis upon which the Democratic Alliance's 2011 election propaganda is founded.

The unethical and unlawful conduct displayed by the DA since the start of this election campaign as well as the many revelations, which have punched countless holes in the party's so-called ‘the Cape Town Story', bear the hallmarks of a party desperate for electoral support (from the formerly oppressed section of our society) and incapable of distinguishing between right from wrong.

This conduct, as we have said, is illustrative of a party that has its back against the wall and desperate to boost its electoral support by hook or crook. The DA's conduct, regrettable and unfortunate as it is, is helpful as it has given all and sundry a glimpse of the party's real colours ahead of the election. This will surely help the electorate in making an informed and correct decision on 18 May.

Since the beginning of this local government election campaign, the DA has engaged in malicious and dishonest propaganda machinery, which includes:

  • Taking down of ANC posters in the highly contested Midvaal municipality
  • The party's controlled Cape Town metro taking down the posters of the ANC Cape Town mayoral candidate Tony Ehrenreich in Mitchells Plain, and subsequently being forced backtrack.
  • Shamefully defending the statue of apartheid architect Hendrick Verwoed and subsequently removing it under the cover of darkness
  • Fielding councillors that are either facing serious corruption allegations or were found guilty of corruption. This includes the case of Eden District Municipality's Patrick Murray, Henry McCombi and Johan Koegelenberg who were found guilty of offering a bribe of R20 000 to deputy mayor Anthony Ewert of NPP in 2009, through a middle-man Deon Momdoe , to vote with the DA.
  •  Defending nepotism of its mayoral candidate in Cape Town, Patricia De Lille, who has employed sisters and sisters in law, brothers and brothers in law and close friends in government and ID structures.
  • Peddling and distributing libellous and defamatory pamphlets before being legally forced to undertake to refrain from such act.
  • Shamefully defending the use of unenclosed toilets in Makhaza. The party has yet to put even a single brick on the first toilet towards enclosing open toilets as directed by the Court and the SA Human Right Commission.
  • Attacking the integrity of the SA Human Right Council
  • Refusing to release the report commissioned by the City of Cape Town on customer satisfaction levels, which discredits the propaganda that the party has delivered to all in Cape Town;
  • Defending the indefensible greed, hypocrisy and double standards of party leader Helen Zille in earning close to R3-million per annum from both the DA and government, while claiming to restructure benefits for her provincial cabinet.

The list is endless!

Now the latest is that the DA's television advertisement, which claims that the party has delivered electricity in Tambo Square informal settlement in Cape Town, is just another lie in a series of many lies in the DA's campaign. In the advert, the party is abusing a vulnerable poor community member, Ntombikayise Lugalo, to peddle lies amongst South Africans that the party has delivered electricity to her house.

During his visit to the Tambo Square during the last two days, ANC Head of Campaigns and Organisational Development Fikile Mbalula found that the area has not experienced much service delivery from the DA-led City of Cape Town since the party took over from the ANC in 2006.

Shockingly, he also found that the star of the DA advert, who was paid with a voucher to buy food by a DA "white man" to heap praises on the DA in front of the camera for delivering electricity, still uses candles and paraffin.

Any service delivery that took place in the Tambo Square, including provision of electricity, happened while the ANC was in power. In 2006, former Mayor of Cape Town, Nomaindia Mfeketo and Councillor Belinda Landingwe, provided the community of Tambo Square with electricity. This is an ANC's success story that DA is today claiming in its advert.

Our success story is supported by the survey of the SA Institute of Race Relation for 2009-2010, which amongst others states that South Africa has experienced a significant increase in the delivery of services since 1994.

Faced with the embarrassing consequence of its fictional advert, the DA moved swiftly to provide an illegal electricity connection to Lugano's shack. This is an illegal act that Eskom has often described as the work of Izinyoka (snakes), which claims many innocent lives, particularly in informal settlements.

It is shameful that a party that leads the provincial government would encourage illegal connection of electricity for mere electioneering and ignore the inherent hazardous and deadly consequences.

Through this shameful advert and other previous revelations of the party's lies and unlawful acts, South Africans are now well informed of the real ‘Cape Town Story'.

RECENT DEFECTIONS:

The ANC has welcomed back home two more former Cope senior members, Andile Nkuhlu and Thabo Matiwane. Nkuhlu was Cope's Eastern Cape Chairperson and Matiwane Cope's Amathole Region chairman.

Statement issued by the African National Congress, May 14 2011

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