Judgment has been reserved in the Democratic Alliance (DA) versus Patricia de Lille matter. The Johannesburg High Court heard representations made by the DA and the Electoral Commission (IEC). The party still maintains that its telemarketing elections campaign was not defamatory to the GOOD party leader.
The DA is are arguing that a message sent out to potential voters citing that GOOD party leader and former mayor of Cape Town, De Lille was not false despite the IEC’s findings that the DA had violated the commission’s code of conduct by spreading false information.
DA’s attorney, Elzanne Jonker, says that she is confident that the court will rule in the party’s favour.
“I think the court is going to agree with us that the commission had no power to do what they did. And we also firmly believe that we will be found that the statement we made was not a factual statement if you read it in the context in which it was made.”
De Lille says the DA has been on a mission to tarnish her name and this campaign is now playing itself out in court.
“But I will insist that the DA are blue liars; that if they have any evidence that they ever fired me through a due process, they must come with that evidence. The whole country knows that they’ve been trying to smear my name, coming with false accusations.”
The DA further questioned the powers of the commission. The court heard from lawyers of the commission that the DA had breached Section 1 9 B of its electoral code of conduct that prohibits political parties from spreading false accusations.
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