ANC in Tshwane accuses DA of 'desperate electioneering' over Gauteng water crisis billboard
The ANC in Tshwane has accused the Democratic Alliance of engaging in 'desperate electioneering stunts' after the opposition party unveiled a billboard in Mamelodi highlighting Gauteng’s ongoing water challenges.
The billboard, launched earlier this week in Mamelodi, depicts Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi standing under a hotel shower.
The illustration references a controversial remark the Premier made during public engagements about water shortages in the province.
The DA says the campaign aims to pressure the Gauteng Provincial Government to urgently stabilise water supply across municipalities.
However, the ANC’s Greater Tshwane Regional Executive Committee has rejected the campaign, describing it as a misinformation effort designed to create the impression that there is a crisis that only the DA can resolve.
ANC regional spokesperson Joel Masilela ka Mahlangu said the party was concerned about what it called a 'sinister media campaign' by the DA to mislead residents of Tshwane and Gauteng.
"The DA has, out of desperation, embarked on a sinister media campaign to try and mislead residents of Tshwane and Gauteng that there is a crisis that requires the supremacist DA to resolve it. The DA has been spreading lies, including that the city’s finances are collapsing and that there is a service delivery crisis, particularly water shortages, which it deliberately exaggerates."
Mahlangu insists the city’s water challenges are being addressed by the ANC-led coalition government and blames historical governance issues during the DA’s time in charge of the metro.
"To the contrary, the ANC-led government of the City of Tshwane is attending to water shortages and other service delivery challenges created largely by the DA and its allies during their eight-year reign in the city, a period marked by neglect of infrastructure and serious financial mismanagement."
The party also defended the temporary use of water tankers during supply disruptions, arguing that the measure was introduced under the DA administration.
"The DA has claimed to oppose the use of tankers to supply water to communities as a temporary measure, but the reality is that water tankers were introduced by the DA and its partners. The ANC-led coalition government is working to reduce and eventually eliminate reliance on them by prioritising the maintenance of water infrastructure," Mahlangu added.
The ANC further accused the DA of attempting to conflate service delivery challenges in Tshwane with issues affecting the City of Johannesburg and the broader province in order to portray what it described as 'a picture of failure where Africans govern'.
"The latest performance in which we saw the DA unveil a billboard in Pretoria in a wicked attempt to prop up its otherwise failing election campaign is even more laughable," Mahlangu said.
Meanwhile, DA Gauteng leader Solly Msimanga has defended the billboard campaign, saying it aims to highlight the impact of water shortages on residents across the province.
Msimanga said communities in areas such as Hammanskraal, Soshanguve and parts of Ekurhuleni continue to face unreliable water supply due to deteriorating infrastructure and unresolved leaks.
"We are saying with this billboard, we might be laughing about it, but there are people in Hammanskraal, there are people in Soshanguve, there are people in parts of Emfuleni and Ekurhuleni who are still waiting to have water coming out of their taps as it used to be."
He added that the DA had consulted engineers and water specialists to develop solutions for Gauteng’s water crisis but claimed these proposals were ignored by the provincial government.
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