ANC has accused the DA of shifting attention away from its own internal dynamics after the party opted to use a "negative campaign" for the upcoming elections. This comes as the DA has been campaigning using the ANC's name as part of its electioneering campaign.

The DA recently launched a billboard which had the names of the victims of Life Esidimeni tragedy, Marikana massacre and the children who died after falling into pit toilets at schools in the country.

The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has since served the party with a letter of complaint following the accusations by ANC, which said the DA is breaking the code of conduct that all parties have signed to abide by during electioneering.

"We have noted that the Democratic Alliance has elected to run a negative campaign devoid of policy content. Their campaign is driven by disinformation and innuendo. We have no doubt that this is a sideshow to distract voters from the implosion currently unfolding within the DA. The resignation of their head of policy, Gwen Ngwenya, confirms the criticism that black people are merely political faces with no power inside the DA," said ANC's elections head Fikile Mbalula.

He was addressing the media post the voter registration weekend at the party's headquarters in Johannesburg on Tuesday.

Ngwenya resigned as the DA's head of policy last week, citing unhappiness over unfulfilled promises from the party's leadership‚ among her many reasons.

Turning to former DA leader and Western Cape premier Helen Zille's tweet over the need for a tax revolt in a bid to stop corruption, Mbalula said: "Helen Zille not only violated her oath of office by calling for a tax boycott if the ANC is returned to office, but has further demonstrated the levels of desperation the DA is prepared to stoop to."

He said the premier was out of order for instigating that South Africans should break the law and violate the constitution. Last week, Zille tweeted: "The ANC government has an Achilles heel. Honest taxpayers will not continue forking up billions to corruption. If this continues, I'm going to be the first to mobilise a tax strike to bring this government to its senses. Anyone who gives them another chance is an accomplice."

Mbalula, flanked by ANC acting spokesperson Dakota Legoete, said Zille's tweets are a subversion of democracy that exposes the "hypocrisy of the DA" in their pronouncements of the respect of the constitution.

The DA has since distanced itself from Zille's tweets, stating that they were not part of its policy.