Durban - Opposition parties are crying foul at the increasing use of predominantly ANC colours by KwaZulu-Natal government departments in what they believe is tantamount to using taxpayer money to fund the ANC’s election campaign.
The claim is that in the run-up to this year’s municipal elections several provincial government departments have “suspiciously” switched their corporate colours to black, yellow and green.
Some of these posters are adorned with the faces of the MECs.
Read: No Zuma picture on ANC poll posters
This has also been extended to department websites and documents being branded in the colours of the ANC.
The Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) and Transport Department have been fingered as leading the pack in what opposition parties regard as abuse of state resources.
Cogta MEC, Nomusa Dube-Ncube, has her own voter registration posters that have her face and her holding an identity document branded unashamedly in ANC colours.
Transport MEC, Willies Mchunu, has his own road safety billboards that are emblazoned in ruling party colours in nearly all the province’s towns.
This appears to contradict Government Communication and Information Systems guidelines that state departments should choose one colour from the coat of arms.
But it appears not to be the case in KZN as departments choose more than one. A cursory look at the departments’ branding reveals that the move increasingly makes it difficult to differentiate between ANC and KZN government branding.
Apart from Cogta and Transport that predominantly use more than one colour, others are social development, community safety, agriculture, arts and culture and health.
Some changed their orig-inal corporate colours not so long ago on their paraphernalia. Only the Office of the Premier, Provincial Treasury, KZN Legislature and departments of education and economic development appear to have stuck with one prominent corporate colour from the KZN coat of arms.
Speaking to the Daily News, DA KZN leader Zwakele Mncwango said the departments, especially Cogta, were using state resources to benefit the ANC.
“It is an indirect benefit from the use of state resources. We have realised that the ANC has been not putting up many voter registration posters because they already have these,” Mncwango said in reference to Cogta posters bearing Dube-Ncube’s face.
IFP national chairman, Blessed Gwala, said the use of the party colours by departments was an example of the ANC abuse of taxpayers’ money for party political purposes.
“It must be remembered that it is government that provides services and not the ANC. We condemn such blatant abuse of state resources,” Gwala said.
EFF KZN leader, Vukani Ndlovu, said it was unacceptable that the taxpayers’ money was being used to market the ANC. “They try to confuse the voters and redirect resources of government to the ANC,” Ndlovu said.
Referring to billboards bearing the face of Mchunu, he said: “It has nothing to do with the ANC, but they use their position in government to market the ANC.”
Cogta spokesman, Lennox Mabaso, dismissed the concerns: “It remains their figment of imagination,” Mabaso said.
He insisted that when his department had blue and white colours, there had been no complaints. “We review our corporate colours and we are happy with them,” Mabaso said.
Transport spokesman, Kwanele Ncalane, likened the criticism to “cheap politicking”.
“We built our identity. The colours make people easily identify the Transport Department, so there is nothing political,” Ncalane said.
Ndabezinhle Sibiya, Premier Senzo Mchunu’s spokesman, said departments were free to choose any colour on the provincial coat of arms.
Daily News
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