SABC’s move not to air DA’s elections ad is politically motivated: DA

Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen says the move by the SABC not to air the DA’s elections advertisement is politically motivated. Steenhuisen was speaking in Makhushane in Phalaborwa, Limpopo, during the party’s election campaign.

The advertisement depicts the South African flag burning.

Steenhuisen alleges the move was also influenced by the ANC and that it is against the right to free speech.

The Democratic Alliance’s election campaign was in full swing at the Makhushane Tribal Hall in Phalaborwa.

Steenhuisen was welcomed by some residents and DA supporters. He was invited by residents who say they need change in their village.

He says the people of Phalaborwa have been forgotten.

“This is an area where there’s a huge unemployment problem. And obviously, we want to share our message of hope and change. When I started the campaign, I said that we were going to take our message to every corner of South Africa, both rural and urban. And so, yesterday, we were in Soweto today. We are here in Phalaborwa, and we will continue over the next few weeks, taking our message of hope and change to every single corner of the country. We were asked to get as many votes as possible into the box on election day. And because politics is a contact sport, (it) means you got to be with voters on the ground, and particularly places here that have been long forgotten by the governing party,” says Steenhuisen.

Steenhuisen also said that the SABC‘s decision not to broadcast the party’s election campaign advertisement, which depicts a burning South African flag is politically motivated. He says the move was influenced by President Cyril Ramaphosa and Sport, Arts and Culture Minister Zizi Kodwa, who are both ANC members.

Steenhuisen says the party will continue with legal action against the public broadcaster, because other broadcasters are airing the advertisement.

“Well, our lawyers are busy drafting a letter to them. We have given them a notice that they will be given a few days to change their decision. If not, we will seek a review of that decision in the High Court,” he says.

The DA leader says the party is ready to fight all the way to the Constitutional Court.

“As I have said – because this is an important constitutional principle around freedom of expression, freedom of political thought and speech – that we will be prepared to take this all the way to the Constitutional Court. We had the same issue last time. You may recall around an sms that was distributed and the ruling in that case was that it does not matter political speech must be protected and political parties must be allowed to get their message out,” he adds.

The SABC says it has informed the regulator, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) that it will not broadcast the advertisement. The public broadcaster says it believes that the advertisement encourages the damaging of treasured national symbols.

Meanwhile, some residents of Makhushane in Phalaborwa say the DA is their last hope for service delivery in their area.

“I think the DA can do better in rescuing us as residents of Ba-Phalaborwa. The ruling government here is taking advantage of the local people. They don’t consider their outcomes. They don’t consider them as people with human rights and are always oppressing them,” says a resident.

The area of Phalaborwa has been experiencing service delivery protests in recent years. The residents say that, they believe the DA will bring change after May 29, General elections.

2024 Elections | Steenhuisen says SABC’s rejection of DA advert is political: