The DA has shot itself in the foot

It is one thing using clever, targeted marketing to make your voice heard.

It’s a completely different thing to do so without having a regard for the consequences.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has shot itself in the foot with its controversial posters in Phoenix in KwaZulu-Natal and it will find it difficult to get out of this mess, despite apologising on Thursday for “hurting some people”.

This week, the DA erected posters in Phoenix with the messages “The ANC called you racists” and “The DA calls you heroes” on the same street poles.

The DA said it would remove the posters, but that’s not the point.

During the July unrest, 36 people were killed through violence and vigilantism in Phoenix. There have been arrests in the aftermath of what saw groups of black and Indian people fighting one another.

Dozens of illegal firearms have since been confiscated in the area. A poster war is the last thing Phoenix needed – adding fuel to an already angry fire.

While the ANC is far from being blameless, as it has not sent out a clear message by taking action against many of the instigators of the July unrest, the DA has done serious damage to its campaign with just more than three weeks until the local elections.

Minister of Police Bheki Cele didn’t hold back, saying: “For him to put the extra salt of racism on this matter … I have always had doubts about [John] Steenhuisen. I don’t have a doubt now, I am flabbergasted.

“To me, he is a thug, he is a political criminal that the nation must deal with as such, he has no conscience, he has no brains whatsoever – for him not to find a problem [with] what happened in Phoenix.”

These posters are opportunistic and provocative. A line has been crossed here.

You would have thought the opposition knew better.