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The Democratic Alliance has secured an order from the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, requiring radio stations that failed to broadcast our allocated Party Election Broadcasts (PEBs) to make corrective broadcasts.

With days before polls open, as millions of DA supporters prepare to go out and vote, there must be fair and equitable treatment of all political parties and this includes the DA’s PEBs being broadcast on all of our allocated slots.

The DA was forced to approach the High Court urgently, taking both the offending broadcasters and the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) to court after multiple radio stations failed to air PEBs allocated to the DA. The Court action was necessary after our repeated requests for ICASA’s intervention did not secure an effective corrective outcome from the Authority.

The failure by multiple broadcasters to honour their legal obligations to broadcast DA adverts, in the final days before the local government elections, could not be left unchallenged.

Missed broadcasts deprive South African voters the opportunity to fairly assess parties on their offer. That is a critical element of democracy.

The High Court has now ordered the offending stations to broadcast the missed DA advertisements in their remaining unallocated time slots, and written confirmation of broadcast, together with transmission logs and recordings, must be provided within 24 hours of airing them.

The broadcasters which ignored the law, and failed to broadcast the DA’s adverts are also facing action from ICASA, in terms of the court order – as ICASA is the responsible authority to ensure the rules of fair coverage apply.

It is deeply unfortunate that in every election, the DA is forced to approach the courts to secure equal broadcasting opportunities to which we are lawfully entitled in some or other form. Electoral fairness cannot depend on whether broadcasters choose to comply with the law. Nor should the DA have to fight court battles simply to secure the airtime allocated to us.

The DA will closely monitor compliance with the Court’s order and pursue further remedies should broadcasters fail to honour their obligations.

As voters of our country prepare to vote on 4 November, the DA is defending the integrity of our elections and ensuring that every voter has the opportunity to hear closing messages. For the DA that is: getting our towns and cities working for all.

Issued by DA Federal Council chairperson Ashor Sarupen