The DA is jumping head first into a hardcore campaign as we edge closer to the national elections later this year.

In previous years, the focus of anti-ANC campaigns was looting and corruption. Now they’re taking it one step further, with a billboard unveiled in Johannesburg on Wednesday.

During the event in the Jozi CBD, Mmusi Maimane claimed that people were dying in the country because of the ANC’s corruption and negligence, reports TimesLIVE.

Check it out. It isn’t subtle.

Anyone who remembers the Marikana protests will recognise that fist:

The billboard displays the names of the 144 Esidimeni victims among others.

IOL reports that about 500 DA members dressed in blue T-shirts marched from Westgate along Pixley Ka Isaka Seme street, but they were stopped by police before they could reach ANC headquarters, Luthuli House.

That didn’t stop Mmusi Maimane from going straight for the jugular in his unveiling speech:

“We are here today to remember the 144 Esidimeni victims. These people died horrible, cruel deaths from starvation, hypothermia, dehydration and neglect. The ANC government here in Gauteng chose to deny food and basic care to hundreds of the most vulnerable, all in the name of “saving money”. But we all know the money eventually found its way into the pockets of ANC cadres and crooks,” said Maimane.

“We are here today to mourn the tragic, pointless, unnecessary, untimely, ghastly deaths of all the innocent little children who have drowned in faeces in pit toilets at schools across the country,” said Maimane. He asked everyone to kneel down, before reading out the names on the billboard.

He claimed that the DA is the only political party with a clean record of governance – which, let’s get real, isn’t entirely true. Still, he makes some good points about the number of people who died due to negligence.

The ANC is accusing the DA of slander and will be taking legal action against the opposition party.

“The ANC is concerned that the conduct of the DA flies in the face of the Electoral Code of Conduct as it is nothing short of spreading deliberate lies about the ANC,” read the ANC statement.

“The recent IPSOS survey report has dealt a devastating blow to the DA ambitions to win the upcoming elections as the party has become insignificant and irrelevant to the majority of South Africa.

The IPSOS poll revealed that the ANC holds a 60% public approval rating, although Business Day maintains that the poll is not an accurate representation of how people will vote in the upcoming election.

Buckle up. It’s going to be an interesting year.

[sources:timeslive&iol&businesslive]