MAYOR FIGHTS BACK
DA presses on with ‘act of treason’ charges Zille not about to be hauled over the coals
ETHEKWINI mayor Zandile Gumede has come out guns blazing, aiming first at the SABC, which she has insisted retract a claim that she said last week’s anti-zuma march was “an act of treason”, then at DA leader Zwakele Mncwango, who has laid a charge against her.
But mayoral spokesperson Mthunzi Gumede said despite the retraction, the DA and Mncwango were persisting with the charges.
“Regional SABC editor Busani Mthembu admitted they got it wrong and he apologised for the error. He subsequently issued a retraction on air,” the spokesperson said.
Gumede said the mayor always welcomed criticism if she did wrong or made mistakes.
“But we must draw a line when this includes false allegations purely done for political point scoring,” he said.
Mayor Gumede was now consulting the ANC and her legal team to take the matter forward.
After the incident, which was broadcast on radio, Mncwango said the party had laid a charge against the mayor for “inciting violence”.
“It doesn’t matter if she said it or not; what matters is that it was widely reported that the mayor called the march an act of treason. It is not for us to prove whether it was true or not,” Mncwango said at the time.
Yesterday Mncwango said the DA had done no wrong and acted on the report by SABC radio stations.
“As responsible leaders we could not just ignore what was being said Messiah will raise the roof at Durban’s Playhouse today when it is performed at 3pm.the work, directed by SA National Opera Association chairman Marcus Desando, will showcase some of the country’s top operatic talent. on radio. We are curious about why she did not act when the media reports first came out. She also did not deny having said what was reported when we wrote to her, which was before we took the legal route.”
Mncwango said the DA wrote to Gumede asking her to publicly withdraw or dispute the allegations before they laid a charge against her. He claimed she never responded.
“This report was damaging and we believe, as a responsible leader, she should have availed herself of the record that would have been aired on radio instead of delegating the matter to her spin doctor,” he said.
Mncwango said the DA would not withdraw the charges but the mayor had to submit her evidence to the police to have her name cleared.
“The court will decide if she is guilty or not once they have all the evidence.”
The SABC might also have to make submissions to the court which could include the original audio of the interview in which the mayor was allegedly misquoted.
Regarding the ANC Youth League’s disruption of the Ahmed Kathrada memorial in Durban, they had not apologised despite being asked to do so.
Members of the youth league heckled ANC treasurer-general Dr Zweli Mkhize and sang Awusitshele ukuthi uzuma wenzeni (Please tell us what has Zuma done wrong) during Mkhize’s speech. He ignored them and tried to speak over their singing.
The organisers, the Active Citizens Movement (ACM), had tried to interdict the ANCYL from attending the event but its application was denied by the Durban High Court, though the court ordered that those attending should be on their best behaviour.
“The organisers gave us a deadline to apologise, but we are not going to do that. Instead we have written back, asking for a meeting between our organisations because we feel that some issues have been overlooked. We need to engage on those first before anyone can be asked to apologise,” ANCYL provincial spokesperson Mandla Shange said yesterday.
He conceded that some youth league members did participate in the disruption but said they behaved after the organisation’s provincial secretary, Thanduxolo Sabelo, reprimanded them.
• See further comment on the issue in the Sunday Tribune Herald. WESTERN Cape Premier Helen Zille will not appear before the DA’S disciplinary committee to face four charges any time soon.
The party’s federal legal commission chairwoman Glynnis Breytenbach said the charges related to bringing the party into disrepute and harming its interests. She said the date would depend on the availability of Zille, her lawyer and commission members who would constitute a panel and the party’s legal counsel.
Zille’s spokesperson, Michael Mpofu, did not respond to questions about Zille’s availability.
The charges follow her tweet that not everything about colonialism was bad.
The commission will make a finding and recommend a penalty. The federal executive can accept the finding or amend the recommendation.
The charges follow an investigation into Zille’s conduct, which found she had violated the party’s social media policy.
The policy says that although the DA acknowledges the individual’s rights to freedom of association and of expression, the party’s public representatives and office-bearers are regarded as brand ambassadors and, as such, have a responsibility to communicate in a way that does not reflect adversely on the party, but maintain its good reputation.
“As brand ambassadors for the DA, communications by public representatives, office-bearers or members must not be of an insulting nature, derogatory or insensitive, nor cause unnecessary offence or harm the party’s brand and its electoral prospects,” the policy says.
Breach of the policy is regarded as misconduct in terms of the party’s constitution.
But social media experts said there were no hard and fast rules as to how people should conduct themselves on social media.
Jeanette Grove said: “People tend to get straight to the point, often badly. Frequently your audience also misinterprets your words.”
Another expert, Dirk Visser, said although social media platforms were public and free to use, this did not mean users could not be held accountable for posts.
Visser said the SA Human Rights Commission was debating the inclusion of social media within its policies, which meant users would be charged criminally if their posts were seen to be inciting violence or promoting racism and hate speech.