DA opens way to Zoom in on Zille tweets

● The DA federal council has approved new rules that will allow key internal disciplinary cases — including one involving its chair, Helen Zille — to be heard virtually.

Since the lockdown began at the end of March the DA has been holding virtual meetings of party structures but has not convened disciplinary hearings due to the possibility of court challenges.

But a meeting of the federal council yesterday agreed that the party’s legal commission should be allowed to consider high-profile cases via video hook-up.

Zille is under fire after party members lodged complaints, which have been referred to the legal commission, about a tweet in which she said SA had more racist laws now than it did in the apartheid years.

The Sunday Times understands that a number of provincial leaders are also facing disciplinary hearings. The chair of the legal commission, Glynnis Breytenbach, has previously refused to give names or say what charges they face.

Ahead of the meeting yesterday a number of DA members, speaking on condition of anonymity, raised fears about the confidentiality of disciplinary hearings held via a video conference.

“The thing about these virtual meetings is that people participate from home, so you don't really know who might be listening in,” one said.

“So it takes away the privacy part of it. There should be certain meetings or aspects which are held virtually, but with other cases, the chairperson of the federal legal commission should be able to say they must be held in person.”

But the source said it was a good idea to deal with disciplinary matters speedily, especially those that involve high-profile leaders such as Zille.

Another party member said a problem with virtual hearings was that it could be difficult to be sure everyone involved was concentrating on the matter at hand.

DA spokesperson Solly Malatsi said the federal council convened a special meeting yesterday to amend the rules governing the party’s legal commission.

The amendments included, among others, “making provision for virtual disciplinary hearings to align the commission’s work with the other operations of the organisation which have also shifted towards virtual platforms. These rules were adopted during today’s meeting.”