Overview
- Over the weekend the Democratic Alliance’s Gauteng team placed a stuffed giraffe head in a long-standing Mogale City sinkhole and posted images to underline the hole’s depth.
- The Owl Rescue Centre and other callers believed an animal was trapped and sent a team to Hekpoort, only to find the image was a prop and that staff had abandoned another rescue en route.
- Rescuers publicly condemned the use of what appears to be mounted animal remains, called the stunt unethical, and demanded the DA cover wasted fuel and time.
- The DA said the prop was meant to dramatise road dangers and called on the provincial Department of Roads and Logistics and MEC Kedibone Diale-Tlabela to fix the sinkhole.
- There has been no public report of immediate repairs or formal sanctions, and the episode has intensified scrutiny of opposition campaign tactics ahead of local elections while drawing wider debate on protest methods and wildlife respect.