DA lays criminal charges after ANC members destroy DA posters

5 July 2016

Today, DA councillor in the Gamagara municipality, Henriette du Plessis, laid charges at the Kathu Police Station for the criminal defamation of DA posters under section 92 of the Electoral Act. 

DA election posters were vandalised by a group of lawbreakers clad in ANC T-shirts, many of whom are known ANC activists and supporters. They shamelessly pasted ANC posters and stickers over that of ours and destroyed valuable DA campaign material. 

This is unlawful and threatens the very foundations of a free and fair election. Parties must be given the scope to conduct their campaigns peacefully. The ANC might dislike our posters or feel threatened by them, but we have the right to display them and they are obligated by law and the electoral Code of Conduct to respect our right to do so.

They are clearly becoming increasingly desperate and threatened by the DA's growth in the area. The DA recently made significant inroads in this former stronghold of the ANC, signing up hundreds of new members.

The ANC is running scared and trying every dirty trick in the book because they know that the people of Mapoteng will be voting for change in their numbers.

We will be following the matter very closely and will do everything in our power to ensure that the guilty parties are held accountable for their criminal wrongdoing. We will do this within the ambit of the law and with due respect for the need to let the law take its course.

We will not allow ANC hooliganism to undermine our right to freely campaign.  

Issued by Andrew Louw, DA Provincial Leader in the Northern Cape, 5 July 2016