Provincial DA opts to stand behind Zille
• Party says Constitution allows freedom of expression
The DA in the Western Cape provincial legislature appeared to close ranks around embattled Premier Helen Zille on Tuesday and defended her right to freedom of speech amid growing calls for her to resign.
This is the clearest indication yet that Zille, who is due to face a disciplinary hearing and could potentially be booted out of the party, still enjoys wide support in the DA in the province despite her latest Twitter gaffe.
It sets the stage for a huge showdown when the premier and former party leader is eventually hauled before the party’s top disciplinary body.
Zille sparked anger on Twitter earlier in March with her comments about the legacy of colonialism. “For those claiming the legacy of colonialism was only negative‚ think of our independent judiciary‚ transport infrastructure‚ piped water etc‚” she tweeted.
Although a battered and bruised Zille has again apologised to anyone who “genuinely” thought “I was praising, defending or justifying colonialism”, she appeared unrepentant as she delivered her speech in a debate in the provincial legislature on Tuesday.
The highly charged debate on the tweets was initially called by the ANC.
Zille said debate on colonisation should not be shut down, and referred to various leaders including former president Nelson Mandela and authors who had highlighted some of its “positive” aspects.
The ANC has been calling for Zille to be immediately recalled for her tweets and again did so during Tuesday’s debate.
DA member of the provincial legislature Masizole Mnqasela, who opened the debate for the governing party, leapt to Zille’s defence, saying “we stand in defence of pluralism, constitutionality and freedom of speech [something that] the ANC never understood”.
Mnqasela said that Zille was not racist.
“She is loved by the people of Cape Town and the province. In the darkest days of apartheid, many comrades sought refuge in her home,” said Mnqasela, who was continuously interrupted and jeered by ANC members in the legislature.
Another DA member of the legislature, Daylin Mitchell, said the ANC members were hypocrites for calling for the debate.
“Where was the ANC when Jimmy Manyi said the Western Cape has an oversupply of coloureds? For years, they ignored racism and violated the Constitution ... this is [the] ultimate hypocrisy,” said Mitchell.
Western Cape education MEC Debbie Schafer said Zille could be recalled only for a serious transgression such as violating her oath of office.
“The Constitution gives her the right to express herself .... Those tweets ... do not fall into that category [of violating the Constitution or oath of office]. If that is the case, [then] we are on a slippery slope,” said Schafer.
Zille, who closed the debate, referred to a quote from Mandela from 2001 in which he said: “If there [was] one single positive aspect that I had to identify from the history of colonial contact between our two countries [SA and Britain], it would be that of the educational benefits our country derived from it.”
She also referred to a history textbook written in the 21st cen- tury and used in schools from 2004 to the present.
Its lead author, prominent academic and historian Maanda Mulaudzi, writes “colonisation also brought with it western education, medicine and technology as well as language, cultural, and sporting links that have enabled Africa to interact with the rest of the world. Part of the legacy of colonisation has been the development of Africa into a network of modern, independent states.”
Zille asked: “Why have we tolerated this textbook in our schools for so long? Will we demand Mulaudzi be fired?
“Of course, not. So, why the political tsunami over what I said? I leave it to members of this house and the public to draw their own conclusions.”
Speculation is rife that DA leader Mmusi Maimane and other senior party members want Zille to be removed from her position.
The feeling seems to be that her continued presence could hurt the party at the next general election due in 2019.
The former Cape Town mayor will face a disciplinary process in the coming weeks.
ANC provincial leader Khaya Magaxa said: “If the DA wants us to believe that they are committed to our constitutional democracy, they will remove Zille as premier of the Western Cape and harshly punish her for her continued racist crimes against African people.
“If they do not remove her, we shall be vindicated in our convictions that the DA is indeed a party which protects and rewards racists.”
Zille has never been far away from controversy in recent times. Late in 2016, she posted a tweet in which she seemed to suggest that it was acceptable to racially classify people in a restaurant.
The tweet, which was subsequently deleted, read: “Why is it OK to racially classify ppl for jobs but not to identify ppl at a table by their race?”
Her tweets came after patrons at The Bungalow, an expensive restaurant in the Cape Town suburb of Clifton, received a bill on which the waiter had identified them as “two blacks” instead of by their table number.
In 2012, she came under fire for her comment in which she referred to Eastern Cape pupils who flocked to the Western Cape for better education as economic refugees.
WHERE WAS THE ANC WHEN JIMMY MANYI SAID THE WESTERN CAPE HAD AN OVERSUPPLY OF COLOUREDS? SPECULATION IS RIFE THAT DA LEADER MMUSI MAIMANE AND OTHER SENIOR PARTY MEMBERS WANT ZILLE TO BE REMOVED FROM HER POSITION