Durban - The Minority Front opened a case against the DA after a “DA” cartoon depicting a party “member” peeing on the MF logo was circulated on Facebook, allegedly by DA members.
MF leader Shameen Thakur Rajbansi described the cartoon that was circulated on Monday as immoral, senseless, defamatory and unethical.
She said it was a direct insult to all MF supporters and the Indian community.
“I am shocked and disgusted at the political campaign of some DA members who circulated this cartoon on social media,” she said.
The cartoon was also e-mailed to her deputy, councillor Patrick Pillay, Thakur Rajbansi said.
“The DA has hurt the dignity of the Indian community by this cartoon displaying the arrogance of a supremist, colonial mentality over the MF. By inference, this is how the DA views Indian people,” she said.
Thakur Rajbansi said the MF logo was sacred to the party and its supporters.
The cartoon was malicious and the work of desperate DA candidates, who were willing to stoop to the level of human rights violations in trying to please their “masters” for positions, she said.
“The perpetrators must be prosecuted by the Electoral Court,” she said.
Contacted for comment, the DA’s provincial leader, Sizwe Mchunu, said the cartoon did not come from the party. After seeing the cartoon, Mchunu said they acknowledged it was a “bad thing” and undermined the campaigning of the MF.
“If it has come from a member of the DA, we will take all the necessary steps to deal with that person,” he said .
Police spokesman Jay Naicker confirmed that a case in terms of the Electoral Act had been opened at the Durban Central police station for investigation.
Although Thakur Rajbansi said they had laid a complaint with the Human Rights Commission, the spokesman for the commission, Isaac Mangena, said they were not aware of the matter.
“We have not received the said complaint either from the party or any member of the public,” Mangena said.
The Mercury