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Efforts to establish a new political party to oppose South Africa’s ruling African National Congress have foundered after the ANC splinter group couldn’t come up with a name.
The ANC had planned to sue the new group after the latter’s members printed t-shirts with the name “South African National Congress”. The ANC also plans to prosecute a guy wearing a t-shirt that reads “Save the trees. Eat a beaver.”
Prosecutors today seized several hundred t-shirts reading “Prosecutors seized my t-shirt and I got was this lousy t-shirt.”
Activists are worried that the government will launch a wider crackdown on a huge range of opposition merchandise including t-shirts, pens, mugs, hats, coasters and mousepads.
The BBC reports that the splinter group’s next name choice, “South African Democratic Congress,” had already been taken by another party. To make matters worse, The Daily Grind understands that the new party’s leader, Mosiuoa Lekota, just found out that mosiuoalekota.com has been taken by cyber-squatters.
If the new group is forced to contest the election as a no-name party, it may be rebranded by the supermarket as “You’ll love Coles opposition party.”
Mr Lekota is a former defence minister who quit the ANC after the party ditched long-time moderate leader Thabo Mbeki. The ANC will seek to counter his insurgency at the next election with the slogan “L-plate Lekota and the economy… good luck!”
Polling suggests that many South Africans agree with the statement that “the government is out of touch”, though a larger number agreed with the statement “I could have sworn this is where I parked my car.”
Senior ANC leaders are still inclined to blame South Africa’s many problems on vestigal racism, launching a campaign to rebrand the country’s recent blackouts as “rainbow-outs”.
Finding a simple, clear and effective name in a crowded political marketplace is always difficult. One name has just recently become available however; “Australian Democrats”.
