For and against a Zille apology
I can no longer be silent when a great injustice is being played out in our country. Helen Zille has, all her life, fought against injustice.
As a young reporter she and her editor, Allister Sparks, exposed the truth about the death of Steve Biko at the hands of the apartheid police force, at considerable risk to herself. Since then she has gone on to work tirelessly against forces of evil and cruelty and to establish the party as a completely diverse band of people of different colours, creeds and background, according to the vision of Nelson Mandela in 1994.
How is it possible that she is now being treated as a criminal for an ill-advised remark on Twitter, expressing her excitement after having seen a state that has been transformed, after a comparatively short time, into a very efficient country. Her observations included the words “not entirely bad” in connection with colonialism, which had been an important contributor in Singapore.
To any English-speaker that says the term being used means that colonialism was not good but it had some positive implications. How can this be interpreted as Zille supporting colonialism? That Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maimane, despite knowing her well, took that misinterpretation up and led the attack against her is inexcusable. He has betrayed the trust I, and many others, had put in him to carry out the vision of a party that was going ahead to advance the vision of 1994.
My concern is: Will we ever get beyond looking backwards at all the wrong things done by our forefathers over many years, and start concentrating on doing things right, better and positively, in the future to realise a great future for all who live in the Beloved Country? ■ Zille could sully her image forever and be put in the league of hardcore racists like Steve Hofmeyr and Dawie Roodt if she keeps on defending colonialism as salvation to the apparently ignorant and/or clueless.
Her legendary investigation and exposure of the National Party’s cover-up of the death of Steve Biko would soon be forgotten and disregarded by ANC supporters who were indoctrinated into believing that “freedom” was a won tennis match between Nelson Mandela and the apartheid government.
Please, Zille, apologise, whether you would be suppressing your true insight or not. The stand-off is not worth losing the legacy you have built till now.