By ABC News
Photos: YouTube Screenshots
CAPE TOWN, South Africa — South Africa’s Democratic Alliance took the African National Congress, the party it co-governs the country with, to court Thursday over a preelection speech in May given by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
It’s an early sign of friction between the new coalition partners. The court papers were submitted to the Electoral Court by the DA in May before it entered into a coalition with the ANC, but it decided to still go ahead with the case.
The DA asked the court to deduct 1% of the vote received by the ANC in the May 29 national election and fine Ramaphosa, the ANC leader, $10,900 and his party $5,450, over what it argues was a presidential address that was used for election campaigning and amounted to an abuse of office.
The ANC responded Thursday by calling the DA’s legal action “frivolous and unwarranted” and said the president was following the constitution when he made the speech.
Ramaphosa gave the speech three days before the election in his capacity as head of state…READ MORE
