Cape Town -
A poster war is raging as rival parties blame each other for election posters being vandalised and ripped off street poles.
The matter has raised the ire of both the DA and the ANC’s provincial party leaders, with the DA offering a reward to anyone who captures a picture or video footage of the culprits at work, and the ANC claiming the DA is merely offering a reward to hide what its member are doing with ANC posters.
From the start the DA has been one step ahead of their rivals, as they ensured that virtually every street pole on the city’s highways, in the suburbs and the city centre was adorned by blue party posters of Premier Helen Zille.
And the ANC soon followed with their posters depicting President Jacob Zuma.
But since then posters have been removed and vandalised across the province.
In a bid to get to the bottom of the poster saga, the DA offered a reward of R5 000 on Wednesday for images that could lead to the successful prosecution of individuals deliberately defacing, removing or tampering with their election posters.
DA provincial leader Ivan Meyer said they had been inundated with reports of DA election posters being removed especially in the city centre, Sea Point and Retreat.
“In some instances DA posters have been removed and replaced with ANC posters, or simply covered by ANC posters, despite stipulations in the Electoral Act which state that no person may deface or unlawfully remove or destroy any posters or election materials of any political party.”
Meyer called on “law-abiding citizens” to assist the party in fighting against the ANC’s “unlawful and undemocratic campaign”.
But ANC provincial chairman Marius Fransman said, while they had no proof, they suspected the DA was behind the ANC’s posters being removed, particularly in the northern suburbs.
“I think the DA is trying to pre-empt what we believe they are doing wrong. The DA knows that the ANC has started to raise the poster issue with different structures.
“We’ve instructed our legal monitoring division to go to the IEC to lay a complaint on the matter.”
But Meyer denied that their party was pulling down ANC posters, adding that the opposition should “show them the evidence” and the DA would take action against any members who behave illegally.
Cape Argus