The DA's advert sees a South African flag burn to embers; a symbol, they said, of what would happen should people not vote for them. Image: X
President Cyril Ramaphosa has added his voice to many criticising the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) advert depicting a burning national flag.
Speaking to the media on Tuesday, the African National Congress (ANC) president called the advert “treasonous and unacceptable,” questioning why someone seeking unity in a diverse society would vote for the DA.
The DA’s election advert showed the burning of the flag as “a symbolic representation of the future that awaits South Africa if people do not vote for the DA”, party leader John Steenhuisen explained at the launch of the advert.
Ramaphosa did not see it this way.
“The flag of our country is a sacred, sacred article in the life of our country. It is that flag that unites all of us,” the president said.
“It is despicable that a political party can, as it seeks to express itself, burn the symbol of our unity, the symbol of our existence as a nation.
ALSO READ: ‘Insulting the nation’: Zizi Kodwa condemns DA’s burning flag ad
“I think it is treasonous because anybody, particularly an organisation that does something like that for political expediency, should really be ashamed of themselves because it is really the most despicable political act that anyone can embark upon, particularly when they are campaigning for votes.”
Ramaphosa said the advert made it look like those planning to vote for the DA would be voting for a party that “wants to destroy South Africa”.
“All we want is to build South Africa, to unite the people of South Africa around the flag,” he added.
“People die for the flag of a nation. They rally around the flag of a nation… They [the DA] are destroying that unity, that identity that we all have. So, it is totally unacceptable.”
Ramaphosa’s comment comes a day after Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture Zizi Kodwa said the advert has potential to “sow division and hysteria in our nation”.
“As custodian of all national symbols, which include the South African flag, I strongly condemn the Democratic Alliance advertisement which depicts the burning of the South African flag,” he said.
“It offends all South Africans who proudly raise our country’s flag sky high and appreciate its representation as the flag of a free, democratic and non-racial nation.
“I shudder to think what other South African compatriots such as Helen Suzman, Zack de Beer, and Van Zyl Slabbert would say about this act of desperation and recklessness demonstrated by the current ahistorical and unpatriotic leaders of DA,” he added.
Former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela, who said while she understood the DA’s intentions in the image, she thought it was ill-advised.
“It seems to show disrespect and disloyalty to the flag, which to many of us is more than a flag, but a symbol of triumph against apartheid. In some countries it’s even a crime to burn the flag,” said Madonsela.
ALSO READ: ‘In some countries, it’s a crime to burn the flag,’ says Thuli Madonsela on DA election ad
Additional reporting by Vhahangwele Nemakonde.
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