Question of phrasing: how an apology became more of an explanation

“profound offence” “apologise to black South Africans offended” “my subsequent defence of it” “I realise the hurt this caused” “black South Africans” “undermined the leader” “this is wrong” “repair the damage” “I recognise offence” “I therefore apologise to South Africans who may have been offended ...” “My subsequent explanation of it” “wounds of history may have been opened up” “South Africans who suffered under colonialism” “had the effect of undermining the leader” “I regret this” “restore public trust that may have been eroded” “I realise the hurt my tweet and subsequent defence of it has caused. In particular, I recognise that my actions were insensitive to black South Africans who suffered under the yoke of colonial oppression. For this, I am genuinely sorry.”

Instead of apologising for the “hurt” her tweets had caused, Zille ended up apologising for “the wounds of history” that were opened.

The word “black” was removed, as well as “the yoke of”.

The earlier wording of the penultimate paragraph was: “During this period I have made public utterances that have undermined the leader of the DA and the project he is leading. This was wrong. Mmusi Maimane is the democratically elected DA leader and we must all get behind his leadership.”

In the final version, Zille admits only that her utterances “had the effect of” undermining Maimane and, instead of the phrase “this was wrong”, she merely said, “I greatly regret this.”

The final paragraph of an earlier draft read: “My intention now is to do everything I can to repair the damage I have done, and the public trust that has been eroded.

“I will work harder to restore the faith of the public in the DA.”

Zille did not refer to any damage she had done, but undertook to restore the public trust that had been eroded.

She also did not end up promising to restore the faith of the public in the DA, but ended with: “Now, more than ever, we need to unite behind a shared vision of one nation with one future.”

Hill-Lewis and Davis refused to comment when approached separately by the Sunday Times this week, saying the matter was a closed chapter.

However, the DA leadership won the battle of removing Zille from the party’s federal executive, its federal council and its Western Cape provincial council and limiting her public utterances to provincial rather than general political matters.