DA heads to court over second banned ad

Simone Samuels

simones@caxton.co.za

The SABC has banned the DA’s second Ayisafani advert with immediate effect, the party said.

According to the party, it was notified by the SABC’s Head of Broadcast Compliance Fakir Hassen, that the broadcaster would not allow the DA’s second Ayisafani election advert to air on TV.

In response to the public broadcaster’s decision, the DA planned to approach the Gauteng North High Court for an urgent interdict compelling the SABC to air the advert immediately.

“This is censorship, pure and simple,” DA leader Helen Zille said in a statement. “There is absolutely no rational or legal basis on which to prevent this ad from airing,” The second advert features DA candidate for Gauteng, Premier Mmusi Maimane referencing the current state of the party and its growing support accompanied by images of DA supporters at rallies and marches.

The voiceover in the advert says, “So they tried to silence us but this is actually what they are afraid of. iDA Ayisafani… We are growing, we are strong we can win.” “Millions of South Africans are uniting behind a party that can bring change.”

The 45-second advert concludes, “Change is coming. Amandla awethu.”

The advert was a follow-up to the DA’s first Ayisafani advert, which the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa’s Complaints and Compliance Commission ruled should be censored following a complaint by the police.

According to Zille, in Hassen’s written reason for the decision not to air, he said advert’s opening line ‘They tried to stop us’ was false.

Zille said he wrote, “Since the Icasa ruling on Saturday the DA cannot claim that ‘they tried to stop us’ as the ruling had already effectively stopped the ad by then.

“The SABC’s intent is clear – they wish to seriously damage the DA’s election campaign in this crucial final week of the election,” she said. “We will not let this stand,”

However, SABC spokesperson, Kaizer Kganyago rejected the DA’s claim that the public broadcaster had banned the advert.

“We have not banned the advert, in fact we are going to flight it,” Kganyogo said.

He added that the DA’s comments were premature, explaining that the broadcaster had not communicated any information to the party from which it could make such conclusions.

According to Kganyago the advert was a commercial advert rather than an election advert, which required five working days to consider and be on air, adding that the broadcaster was still within the stipulated timeframe.