POLITICS

Cape Times report inaccurate and misleading - Ryan Coetzee

DA strategist says Ntombikayise Lugalo does have access to electricity

Independent Group reporting on DA advert purposely inaccurate and misleading

A report in Independent newspapers today attempts to portray a DA TV advertisement featuring Ms Ntombikayise Lugalo of Tambo Square in Cape Town as inaccurate and misleading (see here). However, it is the report that is inaccurate and misleading and, as I shall show, purposefully so.

The facts are these:

Ms Lugalo is featured in a DA TV advertisement saying "Since the DA took over here we have electricity at Tambo Square."

The DA-led government of Cape Town delivered electricity to every plot in Tambo Square in 2006 as part of a city-wide rollout of basic services to 227 informal settlements which had not been delivered services by the ANC government during its term of office.

Since 2006, many more people have moved into the Tambo Square area, often sharing plots with those who arrived earlier. For this reason, not every structure in Tambo Square has direct access to electricity, although many residents share. Ms Lugalo, for instance, who was born in the immediate area and has lived there all her life, moved to Tambo Square itself in 2007 and has access to electricity via her neighbour's box. The connection is both safe and legal.

The City rolls out additional electricity connections and other services in informal settlements as they expand. This is standard procedure.

The following information in the news report is false:

  • The story is introduced with the following sentence: "THE WOMAN who stars in a DA television advertisement about electricity goes home to candles and paraffin." This is untrue. Ms Lugalo has access to electricity and she insists that the Cape Times journalist, Babalo Ndenze, knows this.

  • The sentence, "But her neighbour, Zoliswa Fuyane, said: "Ntombi doesn't even have an electricity box" is also false. In fact, Zoliswa Fuyane is not Ms Logalo's neighbour. Ms Lugalo describes Zoliswa Fuyane as an ANC supporter who lives "far away".

  • ANC councillor Belinda Landingwe is quoted in the story as "rubbishing" Ms Lugalo's "claims", with these words: "It's the ANC that delivered and not the DA. This is an election. Even the person in the advert knows what she's saying is not true. It's because she's paid and she's a DA member." This is untrue. The DA-led government delivered electricity to Tambo Square. Further, Ms Lugiso was not paid to be in the advertisement.


It turns out that the Cape Times journalist who wrote the story, Babalo Ndenze, was in the company of the current ANC ward councillor and its candidate in the upcoming election when she was called to meet him. It is clear from her account of the meeting that this journalist conspired with the ANC to create a story designed to discredit the DA's TV advertisement. Among other things, she made it clear to Mr Ndenze that the ANC had nothing to do with the delivery of electricity in Tambo Square. She is not quoted contesting the ANC councillor's version.

The bottom line is that the DA's TV advertisement is entirely accurate and constitutes a good example of the DA-led City's achievement in delivering basic services to informal settlements in Cape Town.

Statement issued by Ryan Coetzee DA Strategist, May 13 2011

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