ANC Statement, 27 March 2014 ANC's urgent High Court application against the DA The African National Congress has today, 27 March 2014, launched an urgent application in the South Gauteng High Court to stop the DA from violating the Electoral Act and Electoral Code of Conduct which prohibits campaigning based on false information. In terms of the Electoral Act and the Electoral Code of Conduct no person or organization is allowed to publish false information in order to influence the conduct and/or outcome of the elections. Further, the Code of Conduct forbids any registered party bound by it to publish false information about another registered party, its candidates or members. In recent weeks the DA has been engaging in spreading malicious lies about the President deliberately distorting the findings in the Public Protector's Report. On 20 March 2014, the ANC learnt of a bulk SMS distributed by or on behalf of the DA falsely accusing the President of having stolen public money to build his private residence in Nkandla. The flagrant disregard of the pledge and violation of the Code of Conduct and the Electoral Act is reflected in the dissemination of bulk sms messages that says "The Nkandla report shows how Zuma stole your money to build his R246 million home. Vote DA on 7 May to beat corruption. Together for change." These false accusations are designed to influence voters to perceive the ANC negatively and to distort public discourse. This court application follows a letter of demand that was submitted to the DA on the 24th March 2014 wherein we demanded the DA to retract and apologise for the false and vindictive text messages and to recommit themselves to the spirit and the letter of the Electoral Act and its Code of Conduct. They have arrogantly refused to retract and apologise. Further, the DA has used these deliberately fabricated false accusations to call for the impeachment of President Zuma. These false accusations unduly prejudice the person of the President, the ANC and poison the electoral atmosphere. In this way they have undermined the fact that parliament has not received and considered the report of the Public Protector. It is the view of the ANC that Chapter 9 institutions including that of the public protector must report to parliament in writing on the outcome of their work which requires Parliament's attention. We agree with the Chief Whip of the ANC that such work assists Parliament with its oversight role and holding the executive and other state institutions accountable. The Public Protector's response to ANC Chief Whip's assertion on the impeachment, said that her office had not submitted its report to Parliament and that secondly she has not requested Parliament to act on the report. This emphasizes the view that there is no basis for impeachment arising out of her report. This again, is a clear indication of negative campaigning and clear publicity seeking stunts by the DA. It is the view of the ANC that the peddling of lies and false accusations should not be tolerated as that may lead to intolerance, incitement and lawlessness, a climate that is not conducive to free and fair elections. In its action the ANC seeks not only protect the integrity of the President and the ANC but to ensure adherence to the letter and spirit of the Electoral Act, its Code of Conduct, and all its regulations. Issued by: Jackson Mthembu National Spokesperson African National Congress Chief Albert Luthuli House 54 Sauer Street, Johannesburg, 2001 Enquiries: Keith Khoza, 082 823 9672 Khusela Sangoni-Khawe, 072 854 5707 -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
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