eThekwini officials threaten legal action over DA ‘water tanker mafia’ billboard - IOL

A DA election billboard featuring Mayor Cyril Xaba, eThekwini City Manager Musa Mbhele, and eThekwini Executive Director: Water and Sanitation Ednick Msweli stands at Sea Cow Lake alongside the N2 freeway in Durban. The ANC is demanding an apology and retraction from the DA over the billboard.

A legal showdown is brewing between senior City officials and the DA after the party was ordered to remove a controversial local government election billboard — or face the full might of the law.

The billboard, erected on the N2, shows the faces of eThekwini Mayor Cyril Xaba, City Manager Musa Mbhele and Executive Director of Technical Services Ednick Msweli. Next to them are the words: "You can stop the water tanker mafia."

Through the billboard, the DA has been accused of portraying three senior City officials as being involved in criminal activity. The DA has a history of controversial billboards, especially during election season, and many of them have been described as insensitive.

In 2021, the DA put up posters in Phoenix declaring: "The ANC called you racists" and "The DA calls you heroes." The posters referred to residents who took up arms during the July unrest to protect their communities from possible criminality. Several black people were allegedly killed by Indian men, and some of those suspected of committing the crimes are facing charges in court. The DA eventually withdrew the posters and apologised.

In 2019, the party had to remove another billboard that said, "The ANC is killing us", after it was found to be offensive. The ANC accused the party of running a dirty campaign and warned that it would take the matter to the Electoral Court.

Hiresen Govender of Venns Attorneys, representing the City officials whose faces appear on the billboard, has given the party 24 hours to take it down.

The letter states: "I have carefully considered your billboard, together with Hoosen's written statement published on the DA's website.

"The statement is accusatory and has the effect of expressly implicating and identifying my clients as being part of a 'mafia'. This directly implies that each of my clients is involved in, or complicit in, some form of organised criminal activity or syndicate.

"These allegations are not based on any real evidence, are devoid of truth and are entirely false, unfounded and defamatory."

The letter also demanded that the DA remove the offending billboard within 24 hours, issue a public retraction and apology, and stop publishing defamatory statements about the said individuals in future.

"If you fail to meet these demands, my clients will have no choice but to approach the High Court for an order to protect the rights that you so needlessly and recklessly continue to violate," the letter warned.

In a statement yesterday, the DA said it is sticking to its guns and would not remove the billboard.

"Our response is simple: the billboard will remain. The Mayor, City Manager and Head of Water and Sanitation appear on the billboard because the water crisis has worsened under their leadership. They are the senior political and administrative leaders responsible for ensuring that eThekwini's water system works.

"The billboard does not allege that these individuals are members of a mafia. It holds them politically and administratively accountable for the infrastructure collapse that has allowed tanker dependence, and the interests surrounding it, to flourish."

Political experts said the billboard is likely to resonate with members of the public facing water shortages.

Political analyst Dr Siyabonga Ntombela said the DA was capitalising on a pressing issue that could not be ignored during the election period.

"Water is life and a public service that eThekwini is mandated to deliver to its residents. If the DA capitalises on the City's failures, it is an election campaign strategy based on empirical evidence. These are not manufactured allegations. The water-tanker mafia issue is a known problem. Attributing it to officials, politicians or any other group is neither here nor there for the affected residents of eThekwini."

Ntombela said the billboard was likely to resonate with voters.

"The outcome of this stunt by the DA is that it will resonate with voters. Many ratepayers and residents who pay for services might vote differently, informed by the reality before them during the upcoming election. It will resonate with the public. The DA will suffer no damage; if anything, it may secure a few votes."