President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed the nation on Sunday evening. (Felix Dragamandla/Netwerk24/Gallo Images)
- The DA is not happy that Cyril Ramaphosa has used his national address for covert political activity.
- According to the party, 1% of the ANC's votes should be deducted.
- Find out everything you need to know about the 2024 general election in News24's election hub.
The DA wants 1% of the ANC's votes in Wednesday's general election to be stripped and President Cyril Ramaphosa to be fined R200,000 as punishment for “thin political campaigning” during the National Address.
The opposition parties slammed President Ramaphosa's address to the nation on Sunday night.
But prosecutors have taken the fight to President Ramaphosa's home, accusing him of “misusing the country's highest office for nefarious election activities” and breaching the electoral code of conduct.
Prosecutors have applied to the Electoral Tribunal to bring proceedings against President Ramaphosa for breaching the electoral code of conduct.
District Attorney Helen Gill said in an affidavit that by the time a court could rule on the dispute, the election would likely be over.
Read | 'Cynical and calculating': DA to accuse President Ramaphosa of 'abuse of power' in national address
She said that any relief measures must be effective but must take this into account.
Gill stressed that the courts must punish wrongdoing, undo the effects of abuse of public power and public funds, and seek to deter future wrongdoing.
She said:
Of course, it is impossible to determine with any degree of certainty how many votes the ANC gained as a result of Ramaphosa’s abuse of power: the DA argues that a reasonable cut would be 1% of the total votes won by the ANC.
“If the ANC wins 10 million votes, it will lose 100,000 votes. If there are cuts, the commission will have to recalculate the number of seats awarded in the National Assembly,” Zille said.
She alleged that the purpose of the illegal acts was to boost the ANC's vote total.
“Given how closely it happened before the election, it is not possible to remedy the illegality by stirring the eggs and, for example, giving all other parties a similar opportunity. The appropriate remedy to remedy the irregularity is to reduce the vote count. Section 96(2) of the Electoral Act gives this court various powers if it concludes that Ramaphosa and the ANC have breached the Code or section 87(1)(g),” she said.
Meanwhile, the EFF is calling for an investigation into the “misuse” of the SABC by President Ramaphosa's office to avoid a repeat of the same incident in the future.
In his speech, President Ramaphosa detailed the progress made under his Sixth Administration.
He also spoke about the importance of Wednesday's elections and other security issues, but the bulk of his speech was about his government's successes.
These included responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and tackling corruption and gender-based violence.
The signing of the National Health Insurance Act was another key talking point for President Ramaphosa.
However, Mr Zille alleged that President Ramaphosa had used public funds for the speech.
“The speech was publicly funded. Staff in the presidency wrote the speech and the presidency published it on its website and social media accounts. Ramaphosa claims to be acting as president and as such is paid a high salary and receives extensive benefits. Unlike his speech to the ANC rally the previous day, the speech was funded by taxpayers, not his party,” Zille said.
She said the speech was an allusion to a political campaign.
“The DDP has tried to use government actions to persuade voters to vote for the ANC. The ANC has the right to do so when it spends its money and speaks as the ANC. The DDP is doing the same. It is relying on its track record in the Western Cape and the municipalities it governs to persuade voters to support it,” she said.
Read | “We're not living in a fantasy castle,” Gill says of the DA's prospects of polling 51% nationwide.
The DA is also considering whether to lodge a complaint with the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa about the conduct of President Ramaphosa and the broadcaster.
Presidency spokesperson Vincent Mugwenya told News24 the criticism was unfounded as Ramaphosa's speech was an authoritative account of the work done during the sixth administration.
He maintained that President Ramaphosa had not mentioned the ruling party in his speech or criticised any other parties.
“Indeed, the President commended all political parties for conducting their election campaigns peacefully and thanked all MPs for the work they have done in the final days of their term. Finally, the President paid tribute to all South Africans who worked alongside the government during difficult times the country was going through, including the COVID-19 pandemic, floods in KwaZulu-Natal and other parts of the country and the violence of 2021,” he said.
