The African National Congress (ANC) on Friday said it was disgusted by the Democratic Alliance (DA) for attempting to mislead the country by using an unfortunate shack fire to gain “moral points”.

During ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa’s visit to Tswelopele Ext 8, in Tembisa, as part of the party’s Thuma Mina election campaign, on Friday, two shacks caught fire, affecting 10 informal dwellings.

It was alleged that Ramaphosa and his convey left the area to their next stop on the campaign soon after the fire broke out.

The DA said in a statement that it was uncaring and highly hypocritical of Ramaphosa to have turned his back on the fire, and accused him of speeding away in his bullet-proof convoy while houses burnt down.

ANC national spokesperson Pule Mabe dismissed the allegations and said that following the fire breakout, Ramaphosa immediately instructed Ekurhuleni Mayor Mzwandile Masina to attend to the incident and ensure that the situation was stabilised and that the safety of the families was secured and the necessary relief was dispersed.

Mabe pointed out that it was unfortunate that the first action by the DA was to issue a media statement instead of going to the aid of the community.

“The DA, which is never on the ground, was in such a hurry to score empty moral points while deliberately misrepresenting facts to suite their narrow agenda,” added Mabe.

The ANC said its leadership in Ekurhuleni wasted no time in attending to the situation, coordinating food parcels and blankets for the affected families.

“Emergency services arrived with four major pumps fire engines to put out the fire. The City's Disaster Management is currently busy with impact assessment while the Ekurhuleni Human Settlements Department is busy with measures to ensure that the families will have a roof over their head by the end of the day,” said the ANC.

The DA earlier said its councillors in Ekurhuleni will begin efforts to help the affected residents with donations of food, clothing and building materials.