DA threatens legal action over SABC ad ban
Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen blamed ANC pressure on the SABC’s decision not to flight his party's latest election advert.
The advert has drawn the ire of some South Africans for featuring an image of the South African flag going up in flames.
Steenhuisen said the ANC influenced the decision when addressing the party’s last leg of the Rescue South Africa Tour in Soweto on Thursday.
"The ANC knows it is going to lose power in less than three weeks. So, like tinpot dictators the world over, they have now started a crackdown on the opposition.
“They have today even called for the DA to be barred from participating in the election. This is the behaviour of undemocratic scoundrels who are terrified of the truth.
“But the DA will not stop speaking the truth no matter what, and the simple truth is that the ANC has set our country on fire," Steenhuisen told supporters.
SABC complaints specialist Nyiko Shibambo sent a letter to the Independent Communications Authority explaining the decision not to show the advert.
Shibambo said the decision was informed by the outcry from South Africans of all races.
"Likewise, the SABC believes that the advertisement encourages damage to treasured national symbols. The national flag is a national symbol, which represents diverse elements of the country and national unity.
“Additionally, it is expected that the national flag should be accorded with dignity and respect. Thus, the flag is not a representation of a political party but the nation at large," said Shibambo.
Shibambo admitted that the SABC had also noted President Cyril Ramaphosa’s and other government departments’ criticism of the advertisement.
"As a responsible public broadcaster, the SABC will not want to be part of fuelling the outrage that is evidenced on divergent media platforms. The SABC persuades the Democratic Alliance to amend the advertisement.
“In the spirit of the South African constitutional values and principles of national unity and nation-building, the desecration of the national flag should be condemned,” said Shibambo.
Steenhuisen told supporters in Soweto on Thursday that the party's legal team will challenge the decision.
"They are actively preventing the people of South Africa from seeing the truth about how the ANC has set our country on fire.
“This blatant act of censorship is an unprecedented assault on our democracy, less than three weeks before an election where the ANC is set to lose for the first time.
“The DA has already briefed our legal team to urgently challenge this treasonous act by the deployed ANC cadres inside the SABC.
“This attack on free speech and suppression of the opposition only confirms the urgency of the DA’s warning contained in the ad,” said Steenhuisen.
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