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The posters, which are mainly displayed in areas where Indian-origin people live in Durban and Pietermaritzburg, are part of the strategy being pursued by the African National Congress to woo the community members for the April 22 polls.
Though the ANC has not yet come out with an official response on the controversy, a senior ANC Member of Parliament Mewalall Ramgobin, chairperson of the Mahatma Gandhi Phoenix Settlement Trust, has said he did not see anything wrong in this regard.
But most of the callers on a talk show on the national SABC broadcaster expressed their displeasure at what they termed "the misuse of what Mahatma Gandhi stood for".
"It's clear that the people are fed up with the high violent crime rate; the fraud and corruption; and the general degeneration of services. I'm not too sure that there's any similarity between Gandhi and the present ANC," Molly Naidoo of Durban said.
Similar views were expressed by many callers on the talk show. Angie Pillay of the city of Port Elizabeth said Gandhi stood for peace, tolerance and lived and practised "moral values".
"But I don't think the ANC of today can associate itself with Mahatma Gandhi. What they are doing is a shame and a national disgrace," she said.
Pillay wanted to know who gave the ANC permission to use the Gandhi images. The chairperson of the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Committee in Pietermaritzburg, Dasrath Bandhu, who was a guest on the show, agreed that there was no need for any one use Gandhi images, especially during election campaigns.
"What the people need to do is to live the life that Mahatma Gandhi lived and promoted. I don't believe it is right to use Gandhi's images in election campaigns," he said.
There were, however, at least two callers who condemned those criticising the ANC for using the Gandhi images. "People are just trying to put the ANC in a bad light," said one caller.
"The ANC promotes the values and principles that Gandhi stood for. Therefore I don't see what the problem is? Some people are just trying to be too critical of the ANC," he said.