DA ‘invites’ IEC to take action against Joburg ads that ‘endorse Tau’

08 July 2016 - 14:25 By TMG Digital

The Democratic Alliance (DA) appeared to put the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) on notice to act on its complaint about taxpayers’ money seemingly being used for electioneering. The opposition party has taken issue with City of Johannesburg advertisements that “specifically endorse” mayor Parks Tau.The DA’s federal executive chairman‚ James Selfe and his party’s mayoral candidate‚ Herman Mashaba‚ laid a complaint against the African National Congress (ANC) at the IEC offices in Parktown on Friday morning.“We are confident that the IEC will accede to our request‚ but if it fails or refuses to do so we will seek other legal avenues to compel adherence to the Electoral Code‚” said Selfe.Mashaba had‚ prior to opening the case‚ said the use of “millions of rand worth of taxpayer’s money…threatens the fairness of the elections and is in contravention of the Municipal Electoral Act”.The adverts‚ Selfe said later‚ state that Tau “is a great leader‚ listing an award for which he has been nominated and conclude by saying ‘clearly the City of Johannesburg is in good hands’ ”. Selfe noted that “Tau is currently the mayor of Johannesburg‚ but he is also an ANC candidate in the coming municipal election”.“Any reasonable listener would conclude that the advertisement is only aimed at influencing the outcome of the election in Johannesburg‚ by promoting the candidature of Mr Tau and the ANC‚” Selfe said‚ adding that “this is an infringement of the code”.“We are inviting the IEC to fulfil its mandate and to order the ANC to compel Tau to remove these advertisements‚” he said.“As a courtesy I yesterday wrote to the secretary-general of the ANC to alert him to his duties in terms of the code‚ and to ask him to order Tau to desist with this advertising. We are now asking the IEC do this.” ..

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