News24 | ‘Fear and desperation’: Mbalula threatens IEC complaint over DA ‘espionage’ at ANC rally

ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula.

@MbalulaFikile/X formerly Twitter

• The ANC is prepared to report the DA to the Electoral Commission for alleged “political espionage” at its manifesto launch.
• Two DA campaign members covertly attended the ANC rally, with one wearing an ANC T-shirt, to gather content.
• The DA defends its actions as newsgathering, while the ANC accuses it of rule-breaking.
• For more political news, visit News24 Politics.

The ANC says it is prepared to report the DA’s undercover attendance of its manifesto launch on Sunday to the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC).

This follows a News24 report that two members of DA mayoral candidate Helen Zille’s campaign team had covertly attended the ANC’s manifesto rally.

News24 reported on Tuesday that it had seen an image of two members of the social media team, Tami Jackson and Zeke Wareley, among the crowd capturing content, one of them wearing an ANC T-shirt.

Jackson is the digital strategist and mastermind behind Zille’s viral social media campaign for the Johannesburg mayoral race, and Wareley works alongside her.

The ANC has termed the act “political espionage”.

Speaking on the sidelines of the extended national executive committee (NEC) meeting on Tuesday, ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula said the party was running a campaign that is governed by rules.

READ | ‘Political espionage’: Zille’s campaign sparks ANC outrage after undercover rally visit

“Should anyone do things that we believe as a party transgress on the rules that all political parties subscribe to, we will deal with that,” Mbalula said.

He said the DA’s actions showed “fear and desperation”.

“Because what are you doing in a rally of another party? But they’ve done it. It’s espionage what they are doing, and they’ve even propagated the lie that our rally was not full when they took pictures early in the morning, and we are saying to them, [they are wrong] because the rally was packed to capacity,” said Mbalula.

He said the ANC was running “a positive campaign” and the DA’s espionage had gone terribly wrong.

“Should we find that the DA transgressed, we will go to the Electoral Commission and lay the complaint there. If the DA chooses to run a negative campaign, it’s their choice,” Mbalula said.

It is worth noting that the IEC enforces an Electoral Code of Conduct that targets traditional campaign malpractices, intimidation, bribery, the spread of election disinformation and AI-generated deepfakes.

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There is, however, no specific rule that bans a political party from physically attending an opponent’s rally. Members of any party are free to travel to and attend any public meetings.

Kyle Jacobs, who serves as media liaison for the DA Joburg mayoral campaign team, told News24 that the pair had attended the event to gather newsworthy material. He also confirmed that the DA would attend other ANC events.