The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) on Tuesday ruled against the Democratic Alliance (DA) and ordered it to apologise to political ally-turned-foe Patricia de Lille.

The IEC ruled the DA violated the Electoral Code of Conduct when it gave instructions to its campaign call centre operators to tell people the party was canvassing for votes and that De Lille was fired as Cape Town mayor.

De Lille, who established the GOOD party to contest this year's national and provincial elections, resigned as Cape Town mayor after her relationship with the DA soured. The DA accused her of corruption, but have yet to prove this.

The DA have been ordered "to cease and desist from making any further false statements in relation to Ms. de Lille being 'fired' from the DA" and "to issue a public apology for the false statement it published in respect of Ms. de Lille being 'fired' within three days of the receipt of this letter".