DA in a quandary over Zille tweets

ONLY a few months ago, the DA was basking in the glory of gains made in the 2016 local government elections.

After a euphoric high, the party has done a painful backflip with the Helen Zille tweet that has changed the kaleidoscope of the horizon, that was once fairly blue.

Colonialism – that dastardly interloper of oppression and slavery to multitudes in this country – has come to haunt an organisation whose many forebears were part and parcel of abominable acts of deprivation against fellow citizens.

Whatever the response she intended the tweet to elicit, Zille has driven her leader into a frenzy, so much so that the entire party is now in a quandary.

Mmusi Maimane, in his role as commander-in-chief of a party desperately trying to attract the black electorate so as to gain power, has been vociferous in his approach to Zille’s apparent and arguable indiscretion.

While the DA runs helter-skelter trying to do damage control and minimise the dirty laundry that is being put out on the political clothes line, the harsh reality of where we are, as a country, is being exposed so poignantly by this event.

The black and the white in the DA isn’t as blue as we think it is.

The stark reality of where we once were as a polarised nation has been brutally exposed yet again.

Whatever one’s views are on the effects of colonialism, this embarrassing debacle merely highlights the treacherous road ahead, even for the DA.

We cannot ignore the fact that as much as the DA would want us to believe otherwise, race will rear its ugly head in ways it may never imagine.

The incumbent black leader against the former white leader. A division stirred by past oppression against the romantic dream of future power. Such has been the effect of the incorrigible Zille tweet.

The outcome of Zille’s disciplinary hearing, however protracted it may be, will be interesting.

It will showcase the future trajectory of a party that has, in many ways, become its own worst enemy in the handling of this saga.

There is an insidious undercurrent of dissatisfaction in the DA as cabals square up to oust an erstwhile stalwart and, not unlike the ANC, factions are in the making that could spew fire when least expected.

As a former member of the party, it does not surprise me at all, as I was exposed to how certain elements operate in the DA, even at the highest level, but, thanks to colonialism, we will now see the true blue, or a sanguineous red, in terms of what the DA is really all about.

Interesting times ahead, very interesting.

NARENDH GANESH Durban North