ANC, SACP Not Amused By DA Shower Billboard 

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Johannesburg – The African National Congress (ANC) and its Tripartite partner, the South African Communist Party (SACP), are not amused with the cheeky shower billboard put up by the Democratic Alliance (DA).

On Tuesday, 3 March 2026, the DA unveiled the billboard mocking ANC Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi for saying he was also affected by the water crisis and, as a result, had to shower at a hotel.

The remarks drew criticism that saw the Premier apologise.

However, DA Gauteng Leader Solly Msimanga stated that: “This billboard is essential to tell Panyaza Lesufi that it is unacceptable to show such contempt for the people of Gauteng.

“No resident can afford to hire hotel rooms to get a shower because your failing government denies them water at home.”

Reacting to the taunt on Wednesday, 4 March 2026, the ANC said it “notes with dismay the desperate electioneering stunts resorted to by the increasingly unpopular DA”.

The ANC added: “The latest performance, in which we saw the DA unveil a billboard in Pretoria in a wicked attempt to prop up its otherwise failing election campaign, is even more laughable”.

As for the DA, Msimanga had stated at the unveiling that: “This billboard sends a strong message – act, or the DA will force you to.

“In ANC-run municipalities, they move from crisis to crisis, and leak to leak.

“But DA-run municipalities plan for the future. Ensuring water in your taps.”

Msimanga further stated: “Ultimately, as we move closer to the local government election, that is the only message that matters, and the only way residents will get their municipalities working – by voting for the DA’s offer of getting water into your taps.

“The disrespect of Gauteng residents who are desperate for water, by you and your ANC Panyaza Lesufi, must end immediately.”

Meanwhile, the SACP said it “noted with concern and firmly condemns the political stunt by the DA involving a crude and personalised billboard attacking Gauteng Premier Cde Panyaza Lesufi”.

The SACP added: “While this latest act is clearly driven by the DA’s profound contempt for the Premier, it also represents the continuation of a sustained campaign against him through manufactured scandals and allegations aimed at demonising him and tarnishing his reputation.

“As the SACP in Gauteng, we stand firmly in support of Premier Lesufi because, from the onset, he has refused to give in to the pressure aimed at appeasing DA funders.

“He has resisted adopting a toned-down stance on the struggle for, and the necessity of, serious structural social, political, and economic transformation.”

The SACP said if the DA was genuinely interested in resolving water challenges, they would have engaged with the content of the Premier’s State of the Province Address, which included the announcement of the R760 million infrastructure upgrade currently underway, the construction of new reservoirs, the emergency boosting of pumping stations, and the repair of pipelines.

The SACP said it fully supports the provincial government’s efforts to address the legacy of apartheid-era planning, “a legacy that DA mayoral candidate Helen Zille still defends, as well as all the radical and innovative projects introduced to address the G13 priorities”.

The SACP said it believes that the current “over-the-top” attacks on Premier Lesufi and his government were not merely a superficial matter of political style or personality.

“They are a manifestation of the intensifying class struggle in the current conjuncture,” the SACP said.

“These attacks represent a political and ideological offensive by the ruling bourgeois class and a direct response to the class antagonism created by a provincial government that exercises a degree of relative independence from the direct interests of monopoly capital.

“The bourgeoisie’s irritation stems from its inability to secure complete hegemony, both political and ideological, over this economically strategic province.”

The SACP said the Premier’s leadership was under attack because it has shown the “revolutionary consciousness, political will, and class instinct needed to use state power not just to keep the capitalist system running, but also to bring about radical changes in society and the economy”.

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