ANC must withdraw threat to boycott MTN
The ANC's call to its members to boycott MTN following the DA's airtime voucher advertising campaign is irresponsible. These are the kind of bully-boy tactics that the ANC employed in the FNB advertisement saga earlier this year.
These kinds of threats and intimidation have no place in a democracy where freedom of association and the right to campaign freely are guaranteed by the Constitution.
We therefore call on the ANC to withdraw its call to boycott MTN without delay.
As part of our ‘Know Your DA' campaign, we have distributed more than 2.5 million DA-branded airtime vouchers. We have every right to utilise this platform to spread our campaign message that we fought against apartheid.
It should be pointed out that this form of advertising is not only used on MTN airtime vouchers, but across the top three South African cellular networks. The DA entered into a standard advertising agreement with a third party voucher advertising company and not with the cellular companies themselves.