Mncwango will discuss Zille with Maimane
DA LEADER in Kwazulunatal, Zwakele Mncwango, will be discussing Western Cape Premier Helen Zille’s tweet, which praised colonialism, tonight with the party’s leader Mmusi Maimane.
Maimane is in KZN as part of his #Change19 tour in a bid to garner support ahead of the 2019 general elections.
Mncwango, who openly criticised DA MP Dianne Kohler-barnard after she shared a Facebook post on former president PW Botha, has expressed his rage at Zille’s tweet.
“We were affected by colonialism and we are still affected by it. When you look at the gap between races it tells you that a black person is still behind. We are trying to work hard to achieve the values of freedom and fairness,” he said.
Mncwango said Zille’s utterances thwarted the strides the country was making towards uniting citizens.
Mncwango, who is known for tackling the race issue head-on even if it came from his own party members, said Zille must go through an internal disciplinary hearing because she breached the DA’S social media policy.
Zille tweeted: “For those claiming that legacy of colonialism was only negative, think of our independent judiciary, transport infrastructure, piped water etc.”
She later apologised “unreservedly” for the tweet.
Mncwango said black people were used as “cheap labour” in building the infrastructure that Zille bragged about in her tweet.
“You can’t then say that colonialism improved the lives of the people,” said Mncwango.
Zille is no stranger to controversy. She has previously come under fire for referring to Eastern Cape pupils who flocked to the Western Cape for a better education as educational refugees.
The party has summoned Zille to the Federal Legal Committee, which is chaired by former national prosecutor turned politician Glynnis Breytenbach.
This is the same committee that presided over the disciplinary hearing of Kohler-barnard. Some felt that the sanctions meted out to Kohler-barnard were inadequate.
Party insiders have expressed concerns that Zille too will escape with a light sentence.
“It’s a formality. Nothing is going to happen to her. No one can fire Zille. They will ignore the fact that her tweet has brought the organisation into disrepute,” said an insider, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Despite his outrage, Mncwango said all was not lost.
“This is an individual, not the party, but we believe these kinds of statements take us backwards. The issue is how do we repair the damage that has been done.”