Mbalula accuses DA of stealing ANC posters, but Twitter cries foul

In a photograph whose provenance has not been proven or determined, ANC head of elections Fikile Mbalula has accused the DA of taking down ANC posters.

He claimed the strategy was that the people doing it were leaving EFF posters untouched in an attempt to make it look like the EFF was behind this.

However, many accused Mbalula of having either been taken in by a staged photo or deliberately posting a staged photo.

Another person pointed out that the bakkie didn’t even contain any “stolen” ANC posters.

Another user alleged the photo was old and had already been proven to feature people putting up DA posters. However, this could also not be established, although another person pointed out that the DA poster in the bakkie was clearly old, meaning that if the photo was evidence of any malfeasance, it was probably of people actually stealing DA posters.

It is against the electoral code for any party to interfere with the election materials, especially posters, of other parties.

Any party that breaches the electoral code can be fined up to R200,000, lose their electoral deposits, be made to stop working in an area or even lose votes from a certain area. In the worst-case scenario, they could be barred from contesting elections at all.

(Compiled by Charles Cilliers)

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.