DA consulting lawyers on ANC ‘stealing’ their election slogan

Opposition party the DA expressed the view on Wednesday evening that the ANC had “stolen” their election slogan “one South Africa for all”, which they launched in April last year.

The party noticed the same phrase, using even the same photo, for the ANC’s birthday celebrations on its Twitter account.

The tweet has since been deleted, though it was still live at 11pm last night (screenshot added 6.19am).

https://twitter.com/MYANC/status/1083066686411100160

In a statement, DA spokesperson Solly Malatsi said they were committed to achieving nonracial ideals in the country, with a commitment to “effective redress, growing the economy in order to create jobs, creating safe communities and ensuring stringent property rights”.

They claimed the ANC was “the antithesis of these very values” and so therefore could not live out the principles captured by the slogan.

Malatsi said they would consult their lawyers on the “infringement”.

“It is not that we are not pleasantly surprised that the ANC has finally awakened to the need to build a country where all can live and belong in, it is the fact that they couldn’t be further from that ideal which is an issue.”

In the past, the ANC has lashed out at the DA for using the name and ideals of late ANC leader Nelson Mandela in their election materials. The DA has insisted, however, that they are living out Mandela’s values more faithfully than the ANC itself.

Malatsi said the ANC’s use of their phrase was not only dishonesty, it was also “an insult to the South African public”.

“The ANC has moved furthest from Nelson Mandela’s dream of building a non-racial country.

“The ANC has repeatedly made use of racial division tactics in the country. They have, along with the EFF, stoked racial tensions for political expediency. The DA stands alone in upholding Madiba’s dream of a South Africa that we can all belong in.

“Just today, the ANC honoured Peter Mokaba, led by President Cyril Ramaphosa, the very person who coined the term ‘Kill the boers’. This, among various other reasons, displays the ANC’s disdain for a united South Africa that embraces our diversity but also acknowledges the inequality caused by apartheid.

“We will now consult our lawyers in order to ascertain what our recourse can be.”

(Compiled by Charles Cilliers)

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