ANC Billboard togher

Photo: Renaldo Gouws / Twitter

Bizarre ANC faux-pas drags small Irish town into the 2019 Elections

Are the ANC fans of small parish towns in Ireland, or did their spellcheck malfunction? The party have scored another own goal ahead of the 2019 Elections.

ANC Billboard togher

Photo: Renaldo Gouws / Twitter

Do the ANC not employ proof-readers on their campaign posters for the 2019 Elections? Several typo-ridden billboards have been spotted in Port Elizabeth, prompting reactions of hilarity and dismay in equal measure.

The sign comically misspells the party’s own campaign slogan: “Let’s grow South Africa together” has accidentally become “Let’s grow South Africa togher“. Much like that popular film from the 1980s, the “et” has gone missing.

ANC billboard fail in Port Elizabeth

Renaldo Gouws is a popular South African YouTuber and DA councillor. He brought the mistake to his 10 000 Twitter followers, who all had a good lark at the grammatical nightmare that was towering over the city:

What is Togher?

Of course, it wasn’t long before the smarmy crowd tried to explain what the billboard actually meant: Some users were quick to point out that Togher wasn’t a nonsensical word: It turns out, there’s a small town of 2 700 people in Ireland by the same name.

Togher, a parish of Cork in the south of the country, is popular for giving the world former Manchester United full-back Denis Irwin, racewalking olympian Robert Heffernan and… *checks notes*… the world’s largest bingo card. With a history like that, it’s perhaps understandable why the ANC are so keen to put Togher on the map.

ANC on the campaign trail for the 2019 Elections

We jest, of course. But if it’s anything to do with Ireland, you’ve got to have “the craic” haven’t you? It follows several other political own goals we’ve seen from the ANC in the past month alone...

Both Gwede Mantashe and Ace Magashule have been accused of trying to buy votes while on the campaign trail. Meanwhile, we saw the party accidentally endorse Helen Zille’s achievements as the Western Cape premier last week. They’ll have to sharpen up pretty soon, as the 2019 Elections are just 22 days away.