Cape Town - The Democratic Alliance (DA) has been served with a lawyer’s letter from the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) following a complaint laid by the African National Congress over the DA's "ANC is killing SA" billboard, the DA said on Sunday.
"The IEC’s assertion that they are acting on behalf of the ANC on this matter is both confusing and concerning. Should the ANC wish to pursue legal action against the DA for this billboard, they should have done so independently and not make use of the IEC legal representatives and resources," DA spokesman Solly Malatsi said.
The DA had therefore requested clarity from the IEC on this matter before proceeding. More importantly, the ANC had laid a complaint with the IEC because they "presumably dispute the hard truths which are contained on the billboard" erected by the DA last week.
The billboard served to "commemorate the lives lost through ANC government action and inaction" in the Life Esidimeni tragedy, the Marikana killings, innocent children having died in pit toilets, and the thousands of lives lost due to unprecedented crime levels, Malatsi said.
"This billboard also seeks to hold the ANC government to account for the murder of these innocent citizens who lost their lives at the hands of an uncaring ANC government. The DA has neither defamed the organisation nor made false claims about their culpability.
"We have therefore written to the IEC to seek clarity on what capacity their lawyers are acting on this matter. Once we receive that information, we are prepared to argue our case in the electoral court. Our assertion is that to claim the ANC is killing us is both factual and undisputed. The ANC is killing South Africans," Malatsi said.