The DA has come under fire 🤭 for its latest election advertisement. In the 32-second ad, the SA flag is seen burning as a voiceover says for the first time in 30 years, the ANC will lose its majority. 

Then, in a dramatic turn (it’s all very dramatic), we’re told the ANC would do anything to stay in power. We’re asked to “imagine” a coalition between the ANC, the “violent EFF and the Zuma Faction”, where corruption will run rampant, and life will worsen. The burning is then reversed and the ad shouts at us to unite to rescue SA by voting DA.

It’s giving Mad Max and Swart Gevaar.

Naturally, the country is divided over it all. 

Flag burning hasn’t been illegal in SA since 1994. But it’s not exactly tasteful.

President Cyril Ramaphosa, Sports, Art and Culture Minister Zizi Kodwa, and former public protector Thuli Madonsela have called the DA out. Madonsela said that while she understood the ad’s intention, “there could have been other metaphoric symbols to communicate the message.”

Kodwa said on Tuesday he was “considering further steps to take” against the ad in his capacity as a government minister, which is dodgy in itself…

Acclaimed political journalist Qaanitah Hunter wrote it was disingenuous to say the ANC  “will do anything to stay in power”.

“The ANC has been voted out in Johannesburg, Tshwane, and dozens of other municipalities, and the party has accepted defeat. Forming a coalition government if a party does not have a majority is typical of democracy. It does not have a sinister motive.”

It’s not the first time the DA has done something dramatic to get SA talking. Earlier this year, it sent a letter to the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken and the EU for aid in “helping to shape the integrity of the upcoming elections”.

Whatever the outcome of this latest DA-led shenanigan, South Africans are talking, and in the lead-up to an election of this magnitude, that’s the most important thing. So, thanks, DA?

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