The Democratic Alliance (DA) wants the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), GOOD, African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) and Cape Party's election posters removed and replaced in the Western Cape for "not complying with electoral law".

News24 has seen a letter the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) sent to the Cape Party indicating that there had been a complaint that the parties were not complying with the Electoral Act.

The letter of complaint states that "the DA alleges that the lamp-pole posters that you have erected in the Western Cape are not compliant with Section 107 of the Act, that your posters do not display the name and address of the printer and publishers of the posters, as required in terms of the Act".

It continues: "We hereby request that you remove the posters from the lamp poles with immediate effect."

Section 107 of the Act states that, among other requirements, "any printed matter intending to affect the outcome of an election must state clearly the full name and address of the printer and publisher".

'Frivolous'

GOOD party secretary general Brett Herron responded to the complaint by saying that: "Clearly the DA is feeling threatened by the competitive campaign. I guess the fact the we erected such great posters so quickly surprised them. Well, I have news for them – we have more great posters coming."

Herron said the DA's complaint - sent in a letter signed by DA provincial manager Ananda Nel - was "frivolous".

"We have informed the IEC that we will rectify the oversight – by pasting a small sticker on each poster which complies with the regulations. The sticker says the posters are issued and printed by GOOD."

Jack Miller, leader of the Cape Party – a political party which is campaigning for the Western Cape to secede from South Africa and become a separate republic - called the DA's complaint a "pathetic legal matter".

He accused the party of trying to "silence opposition voices" and said they would be taking legal action and submitting a counter-claim to the IEC.

If there is an infringement, it must be dealt with

However, DA national spokesperson Solly Malatsi denied claims that the party was attempting to silence opposition parties, saying "nothing could be further from the truth".

"If there is an infringement of the electoral process, then that must be dealt with so that campaigning can take place fairly."

Malatsi said the party was not aware of any counter-claim, saying "it is the responsibility of the IEC".

If found that there is an infringement of the same section of the Electoral Act, Malatsi said the DA would "robustly respond to that".

'Complaint was written by an excited junior typist'

Miller maintained that the DA's allegations were unfounded.

"We believe the DA has launched this attack against the Cape Party because they fear that the people of the Western Cape are resonating with our message of an independent Cape. We are winning over the support of former DA voters, and so we are a threat to their dictatorship. They want us gone.

"We believe that we comply with the regulations and, what is even more embarrassing for the DA is that our research suggests that they are guilty of breaking the very same law they claim against us. We have not seen any printer details on their posters," Miller added.

EFF general secretary Godrich Gardee said he had spoken to DA federal council chairperson James Selfe, who was "not aware of the complaint", adding that "the probability is that the complaint was written by an excited junior typist".