ANC appeal SMS ruiling, poach another DA member

The political tit-for-tat between the African National Congress and the Democratic Alliance over the Nkandla SMS’s is not over just yet, with the ANC announcing yesterday at Luthuli House that they will appeal the ruling made against them at the South Gauteng High Court last week.

Deputy Secretary of the ANC Jesse Duarte said they were not satisfied with judge Acting Judge Mike Hellens made which found that the ANC could not prove that the SMS sent was not true.

“We studied the findings carefully and we believe Judge Helen used an incorrect act. We filed using the electorate act, and she used the defamation law to decide on the matter…The issues we raised were based on the electorate act, which does limit free speech if campaigning irresponsible and false” she said

Duarte added that opposition parties, running ethically sound campaigns and allow the electorate to make up their minds, instead of running inflammatory campaigns which were based on false accusations.

In a bid to win back the Western Province from the DA, the ANC also unveiled Grant Pascoe who’s another councilor that they poached from the DA.

Pascoe is currently the Cape Town DA Metro Chairperson, and sits in the Mayoral Committee in the City of Cape Town.

"Councillor Pascoe joins an overwhelming number of South Africans, who despite finding themselves in other political parties, recognise the ANC as the only organization with the track record, capacity and determination to build a South Africa," spokesman Jackson Mthembu said in a statement.