DA ‘patriotic to whites’, ‘will never recall Zille’ over colonialism tweets

The DA will never recall Helen Zille because she is still the leader of the party, and DA leader Mmusi Maimane is a puppet, who is a front for the DA which is “patriotic to whites”.

This was said last night by the provincial secretary of the ANC Youth League in KwaZulu-Natal, Thanduxolo Sabelo. He was speaking at a dialogue on economic freedom at the Durban University of Technology.

Sabelo was reacting to a series of controversial tweets on colonialism that Zille tweeted on Thursday morning.

“For those claiming legacy of colonialism was only negative, think of our independent judiciary, transport infrastructure, piped water etc,” she wrote.

“Getting on to an aeroplane now and won’t get on to the wi-fi so that I can cut off those who think every aspect of colonial legacy was bad.”

She later apologised.

The DA has since said Zille would face disciplinary proceedings.

Sabelo said Maimane would be removed from his post just like former parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko.

“It’s going to happen to Mmusi Maimane, watch this space,” said Sabelo.

He said the DA was a representative of white monopoly capital.

“They believe they now have us in a corner, they now have a k****r in his right place. When they want the votes in the townships and rural areas, they don’t speak about colonialism but today Helen Zille has a nerve to say to us that colonialism was not that bad, look at the infrastructure it brought,” he said.

He said it was their responsibility at the time to bring development to the country because they were still in power.

“They were not doing us a favour, it was their responsibility,” he said.

Youth league president Collen Maine and new ANC MP and former Eskom chief executive Brian Molefe were not part of the dialogue was initially expected.

Acting DA Western Cape leader Bonginkosi Madikizela said that former party leader’s controversial tweets might result in a loss of voter support.

“Without a doubt these comments have a negative impact to the people we [the DA] are trying to attract who are black people,” Madikizela told News24.

“There is no way we can defend it. Of course it has offended people who were oppressed by colonialism. It will make our work a bit difficult.”

Madikizela said he, like many other DA members, was also offended by Zille’s remarks.

DA party leader Mmusi Maimane has since referred the matter to internal party structures. Zille did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday.

Madikizela said: “This is bringing to the floor the debate of white superiority ... when you imply Africa would not have what it ... has without whites, you are saying Africans are incapable of doing it themselves.”

However, Madikizela said the calls for Zille’s resignation were hypocritical.

“The people making these calls are making it for opportunistic reasons. They themselves come from parties which have done far worse than what Helen Zille has done,” he said.

Madikizela said that while many DA members were upset about Zille’s comments, none have threatened to leave the party.

“We have overcome much worse things ... From time to time we will differ, but it is then important that we don’t damage the brand, even though we come from different places, it is important to work from our shared values and shared ideals. And that’s not an easy thing to do.”

DA federal executive chairperson James Selfe said the DA’s disciplinary chairperson Glynnis Breytenbach would be meeting with Zille on Monday to initiate disciplinary processes.

He said he didn’t expect the matter to be drawn out because it was “relatively simple”.

The DA constitution makes provision for a member to be suspended pending investigation, but Selfe said the provision was implemented only when there is a risk that the defendant might influence the investigation.

The final outcome of a DA disciplinary process needed to be adopted by the federal executive, of which Zille is a member. Selfe said Zille would excuse herself during the meeting when the matter is due to be discussed.

Selfe said the party has also not received any correspondence from Julius Malema or the Economic Freedom Fighters, which has partnered with the DA in some municipalities, tweeted that it will be meeting with the DA to discuss Zille’s remarks.

Meanwhile the ANC Women’s League said Zille’s views reflected the views of the DA as a whole.

“Her conscious remarks should not be analysed in isolation from the imperialist-funded regime change agenda that seeks to remove the democratically elected government,” the league said.

The EFF called on her to step down, saying that she apologised because her view “hurt others” not because she doesn’t think that aspects of colonialism were wrong.

“Her apology is meaningless; in essence the comments on colonialism represent her true views and the company she keeps,” spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi said. “She is cold-hearted racist who believes colonialism, a crime against humanity of black people, is not a bad thing,” Ndlozi said.

The EFF said it would be demanding an urgent meeting with the DA to discuss Zille’s “racist statement”.

– News24