Zille suspended over tweets
Former DA leader to continue as premier
WESTERN Cape Premier Helen Zille has been officially suspended from all party-related activities by the DA’s federal executive for her tweets on colonialism.
The party announced its decision last night, saying the suspension was effective immediately.
However, Zille would continue as Western Cape premier as that was a separate procedural process.
Executive members all agreed that Zille’s tweets had broken down the public’s trust in the party, and hampered and undermined its political objectives.
Zille’s suspension follows a weekend where the party went back and forth on whether she had been suspended after DA leader Mmusi Maimane made the announcement on Saturday.
Maimane’s announcement was quickly retracted and the party said instead that she had been given 72 hours to make representations on why she should not be suspeneded.
Zille threatened to consult her lawyers, saying she had a right to argue her case.
The party said that because the country’s democracy was still fragile, public representatives like Zille should be sensitive to people’s legitimate anger about the past.
“As a former leader and member of the federal executive, Zille has a special duty to protect the party’s interests and promote the party’s mission, which is to build a non-racial, inclusive democracy.
“Zille’s statements are at variance with this,” the DA said.
It said Maimane had done all he could to resolve the matter and had asked Zille to apologise, but she had refused to do so. THURSDAY JUNE 08 2017
Zille had continued to speak publicly on the matter, and the party said this had continued to cause damage to its reputation.
“It must be made clear that Zille continues in her government role as premier of the Western Cape. There is a separation between party and state, and this suspension does not affect her government role.
“This matter deals with her standing within the DA,” the party said.