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The DA has today filed a response to Tau’s deceitful reply to our IEC complaint against him and the ANC for the City of Joburg’s blatant ANC electioneering at the expense of tax payer’s money.

The narrative of the advert at the centre of our complaint is as follows:

“A great city like Joburg deserves great leadership, so it’s good to know that Joburg executive mayor, counsellor Parks Tau, was recently nominated as an African candidate for the United Cities and Local Government co-Presidency and the MMC for Health and Social Development was elected Vice President of the Network for Locally Elected Women of Africa, an Integral part of United Cities and Local Governance Africa. Clearly the city of Joburg is in good hands. Joburg, a world class African city.”

It is laughable for Tau’s spokesperson, Phindile Chauke, to suggest that the advert, “was designed to instill confidence among Johannesburg residents, investors and potential investors.”

It is disgraceful to claim that this advert is, “standard and annual communication of success and achievements” of the City of Joburg.

The advert clearly has nothing to do with the City and everything to do with Parks Tau.

Who is Tau trying to fool?

The DA notified the IEC as soon as we became aware of the advert when it aired earlier this month.

The fact that it has been playing since March, as admitted by Tau, adds further fuel to the flames of City-funded abuse of public resources for purposes of ANC electioneering.

I launched my campaign in March and while the ANC fought among itself to determine who its mayoral candidate would be, the City took it upon itself to waste the people’s money to prop up Tau’s administration and campaign for the ANC.

Tau’s administration has spent millions of Rand promoting his campaign with billboards and adverts that cast Mr Tau and the ANC in a positive light.

This amounts to millions of Rand worth of lost opportunities to create jobs for the 869 000 unemployed people of this city.

It amounts to millions of Rand worth of lost opportunities to improve the lives of 25% of the City’s residents who live in informal settlements. These are people who are forced to live in conditions so shocking that I have lodged eight complaints with the South African Human Rights Commission, which they have agreed to investigate.

The Code of Conduct states that:

“no person may abuse a position of power… to influence the conduct or outcome of an election”.

By spending public money on party political propaganda, Mr Tau is abusing his position in an attempt to influence the outcome of this election.

This is why we have laid a complaint with the IEC, and we hope that they will treat it with the seriousness it deserves.

It is clear that both Mayor Tau and the ANC must be reminded that, even when faced with losing control of the City to the DA, they are not beyond the law.

It falls to the IEC to ensure the freedom and fairness of the 2016 elections are preserved by holding Mayor Tau and the ANC to account.

If the IEC fails or refuses to do so we will seek other legal avenues to compel adherence to the Electoral Code of Conduct.

Regardless of the ANC’s desperate and unlawful attempts to influence the elections, the people of Johannesburg will not be fooled.

The people of Joburg are sick and tired of the ANC’s dirty tricks and lies.

The ANC knows it has lost the trust of the people after 22 years of broken promises.

If I am elected mayor, I promise that money such as this will be spent on ensuring that jobs are created, and better services are delivered.

On 3 August vote for a clean government that puts the people of this city first.

Vote for change that will move Johannesburg forward.

Issued by DA