By Zukile Majova
Political Editor
President Cyril Ramaphosa had condemned as “treasonous” an election advert by the Democratic Alliance which depicts the burning of the national flag.
“With regard to the burning of the flag, even in a political advert, that is treasonous. The flag of our country is a sacred article in the life of our country. It is that flag that unites all of us.
“It is despicable that a political party can, as it seeks to express itself, go and burn the symbol of our unity, the symbol of our existence as a nation.
“And I think it is treasonous,” said Ramaphosa.
He was responding to a public outcry over the DA’s advert which the DA insists was not meant to offend South Africans.
DA leader John Steenhuisen said the advert was meant to be uncomfortable.
“We have used the flag as the allegory of the problems that South Africa is currently facing. Our economy is burning, our infrastructure is burning, our unemployment rate is burning, our child malnutrition rate is burning, and all of these things are setting the country back.
The advert says that if we want to accelerate that burn, then get the ANC doomsday coalition with the EFF out,” said Steenhuisen.
The president said the depiction was “desperate and inciting. It undermined the principles of democracy and unity in the midst of the national celebration of 30 years of freedom and the preservation of tolerance and peace in the build-up to the 29 May national and provincial elections.
“All South Africans should deplore this abuse of our national flag for party political purposes. Our flag holds profound significance for the nation as it represents the hard-won freedoms and peace achieved through historical struggles against injustice,” said Ramaphosa.
He warned that political parties shared a responsibility to ensure that the elections were free, fair and dignified.
Pictured above: The DA flag flown high, no flames in sight.
Source: X
