Party of Action (POA), president Billy Nyaku, has accused Herman Mashaba of being a thief after using similar colours as that of POA for his newly launched party, ActionSA.
Nyako says he worked closely with Mashaba in 2016. The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC)on Tuesday declined ActionSA registration, citing similarities in the logos of the two parties.
Mashaba has since said he’ll appeal the IEC decision. But Nyaku says they will not back down.
“He’s the guy I was working with closely in the DA in 2016, I know how thieving he can be. So we are very elated about the IEC ruling, thieving is not allowed. We are more concerned about the elderly who will be voting in next year’s local government elections. So there is over 98% of similarities of our logo and his.”
In their letter, the IEC specifically listed the Heraldry Act as one of three grounds for the rejection of the application.
Today, IEC Deputy CEO Masego Sheburi, stated that
“it is not the basis on which we rejected the application.”
Watch the video: https://t.co/Ug94M4ApWu
— ActionSA (@Action4SA) September 30, 2020
Brand expert Thebe Ikalafeng says both ActionSA and Party of Action, the POA need to take this battle to the Trade Mark office of South Africa.
“One can understand why the IEC could have problems in registering the brands, either as trademarks and from the IEC as political parties. So the most important thing that needs to be clarified here is not by the IEC but buy the two parties. So they both need to take their fight to the trademark office and come up with who came first and whose idea it was.”
In the video below POA accuse Mashaba of stealing their logo.
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