The Democratic Alliance (DA) has today opened a criminal case at Park Police Station in Kempton Park, Ekurhuleni, against Carmicael Philander for spreading fake news about DA Councillors.

Following my statement on Wednesday 15 April 17, 2020 entitled, “Shameless Gauteng DSD officials steal food parcels, deny the poor food during the lockdown”, Carmicael Philander posted on his Facebook account yesterday at 19:07 pm a photo of three people packaging food parcels with the DA logo beneath the photo. His post was the following: “The Democratic Alliance in the news for all the wrong reasons. DA Councillors implicated in theft of food parcels”. There is also a link to an article about my statement.

Philander’s Facebook post is blatantly incorrect and slanderous and by posting it on a public platform he is spreading fake news.

Spreading fake news is against the Covid-19 Disaster Management Regulation 11 (5) which prohibits and criminalises the spread of fake news pertaining to efforts of combating this deadly pandemic.

It is shameful that in this time when good people do their best to assist those in need and our country faces an imminent hunger crisis, this kind of misinformation is being spread.

The truth is that DA-run municipalities across the country have have partnered with NGOs, farmers, and businesses to fill the gap left by SASSA, who clearly has been unable to fulfil their mandate of providing adequate relief in the form of food parcels at this time.

The DA calls on all citizens to be responsible by verifying any information before posting it on social media. Spreading fake news about food parcels while our people are hungry is a criminal offence. We will continue to ensure that those that break the lockdown regulations and spread fake news face the full might of the law.

Issued by The DA