South Africa’s DA Takes ANC to Court Over Preelection Speech by Ramaphosa

South Africa's Democratic Alliance (DA) has taken legal action against the African National Congress (ANC) concerning a preelection speech by President Cyril Ramaphosa. The DA claims the speech was used for election campaigning, violating election rules. Despite being coalition partners, this marked early friction within the newly formed government.

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.