New DA ‘ANC killed the lights’ billboard goes up in flames

Images have surfaced on social media showing a billboard erected by the DA being burnt, making it the second billboard from the party to be vandalised this year.

The DA’s chief whip, John Steenhuisen, took to social media and said the country did not have an Eskom problem but rather an ANC problem. He said the billboard would be replaced shortly.

The DA’s official Twitter account noted the “criminal and despicable vandalisation of our billboard”.

The DA issued a statement on Sunday announcing the new billboard which reads: “The ANC has killed the lights affecting 57 million South Africans. Time for us to take their power. Vote DA.”

Steenhuisen said: “Load shedding has significant consequences for our economy and the productivity of small businesses in particular, which have suffered the biggest blows due to the blackouts. South Africa loses R2 billion a day due to power failures. It is safe to say that load shedding leads to job shedding.”

“[Cyril] Ramaphosa’s proposal is for Eskom to be unbundled into a holding company, with three separate business entities to be owned entirely by the holding company. This plan means that each of the three entities will have the same holding board. Thus, the intention to stimulate competition in the generation sector of Eskom will be limited by the fact that the entities are not wholly independent or competitive. They will continue to be state-owned.”

The billboard had been up for less than three days when pictures began to be circulated on social media on Monday morning, showing that it had been burnt.

This is the second billboard by the DA to be taken down recently. In January, the party unveiled its “The ANC is killing us” billboard in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, which contained the names of the victims of the Marikana massacre and Life Esidimeni tragedy.

The billboard was torn down by the relatives of the Life Esidimeni tragedy victims. The families of the victims said they did not give the party the go-ahead to use the names of their deceased relatives in a billboard campaign.

(Compiled by Gopolang Chawane)

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