DA's 'The ANC is killing us' billboard torn down

17 January 2019 - 14:45
By Penwell Dlamini
DA members  unveil a billboard showing the names of victims of the 2012 Marikana massacre and the Life  Esidimeni tragedy in Johannesburg yesterday.
Image: WIKUS DE WET / AFP DA members unveil a billboard showing the names of victims of the 2012 Marikana massacre and the Life Esidimeni tragedy in Johannesburg yesterday.

The controversial DA billboard has been torn down by angry people just less than 24 hours after it was mounted during a fanfare march in the Johannesburg inner city.

A video showing people tearing down the board circulated on Twitter on Thursday. 

The billboard mounted along Queen Elizabeth Drive shows a fist dripping with blood with the words: "The ANC is killing us."

It then lists all the names of people who died in Marikana, the Life Esidimeni tragedy and the children who have died in pit toilets.

The committee representing families of the Life Esidimeni patients had already slammed the DA's billboard for the names of the victims, describing it as offensive to those who lost their loved ones.

Life Esidimeni Families Committee member Andrew Pietersen said he only heard people chatting on WhatsApp that they were going to pull it down.

“I can't say who it is. I know there were people who were threatening to pull it down. On the chat group people were very angry and they said they would pull it down,” said Pietersen.